On Monday 15 May 2006 09:20, Xiaofan Chen wrote: > On 5/15/06, Vasile Surducan wrote: > > In my opinion 0402 and 0603 is not for home prototyping and require > > both a good magnifier lense. > > > > About packages, anything else smaller than SO or SM (1.27mm or 0.5mm > > pitch) is not recommendend for home prototyping even it's possible if > > you're young and pacient... > > I think 0603 is pretty easy to solder. I initially feel that 0402 is a bit > small but now it is not so difficult as well. I have not tried 0201. > > SO is easy. SSOP is slightly more difficult but still managable. However > I would not like to solder a QFN even with a hot air rework station... > > Regards, > Xiaofan I now do 0805's and SSOP's regularly, and I still use a generic weller iron with a small tip and .020" solder. With SSOP's though, it's easy to get solder bridges to other traces/vias under the chip near the pins, so when I move any other traces/vias accordingly when I lay out the board. Cheers, -Neil. -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist