I've had no problem doing 0603 components reliably.  It gets difficult when
you try QFN parts.  Those require a stencil and must be reflowed, or put the
heat gun to them.  Something I've found that works for me is pre-tinning the
pads on the board so you can apply the part, put heat to the pin and it
should wick the solder up the pin giving you a satisfactory joint.


On 11/21/06, Martin K <martin-distlists@nnytech.net> wrote:
>
> You're welcome :-)
> I'm sticking to 1206 parts as well because they are much easier to place
> by hand than the smaller parts. I have a bad habit of getting 0805 parts
> offset a little bit so they short out.
> SMT diodes and caps save a lot of space.
>
> Good luck.
> --
> Martin K
>
> Jason wrote:
> > I've been designing my first SMT PCB.  I forgot I could use both sides
> for
> > components so you just shrunk my board in half :).  It's so small it's
> just
> > amazing.  I'm being careful to stick with 1206 components and a 10f PIC.
> > since I'll be hand-soldering it.
> >
> > Is there a way to make the silk screen labels smaller though?  The
> labels
> > are as big as the components and overlapping each other quite badly.
> >
> >
> > From: "Martin K" <martin-distlists@nnytech.net>
> > Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 6:51 PM
> >
> >
> >
> >> Thanks a lot Jinx, Zik, David, and future replies.
> >> I wouldn't have guessed the mirror function changed layers.
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> --
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-- 

Shawn Wilton (b9 Systems)
http://b9Systems.com  <- New web page
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