Sort of in keeping with the topic, what's generally accepted as the next step between these hand-soldering processes and mass production? I routinely run into situations where I need to place a couple thousand SMT parts, and it kills me to do this by hand. I've got a bid in on a very used screen printer, but would still have to place parts by hand and reflow somehow. I've done reflows on preprinted boards on a hot plate in a pinch, and the capital investment for a hot-plate is small (I'm sure that a placement machine is way out of my budget) but does anyone have any further advice on not-so-mass production that doesn't involve one at a time connections with an iron? Thanks, Tony solarwind wrote: > On Sun, Jul 19, 2009 at 1:07 PM, Jason Hsu wrote: > >> I'm looking for suggestions on how to learn surface mount soldering, as I >> only >> know how to solder through-hole. >> >> What training products can I buy to learn? What surface mount project kits >> would give me good practice? >> >> What soldering iron tips should I buy? I have a WES51 soldering station and >> would prefer to stick with that. >> > > SOIC is good to start with as they generally have larger pin pitch. > Next, try (T)SSOP. Finally, go for the (T)QFP. > > Rip open a dead electronics device like a stereo or something. The old > ones have mostly DIP chips in them though. > > -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist