On Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:33:21 +0200, you wrote:

>
>Hello!
>
>I have designed a small board with mixed SMD and TH components,
>with both SMD and TH components only on top.
>
>Now I face the difficulties of mounting about 100 components for
>each board. It takes me a couple of days (!) for each board, which
>is too much.
>
>I can make excellent solder joints but it takes time! For the SMD
>(from 0603 on) I use a flux pen, I wet the PCB, place the component
>on, solder one terminal using a small spoon-like tip, then apply
>flux again, solder the other(s) pin, then apply flux again on the
>first one and resolder it to get a nicer, perfect joint. The result
>is perfect (probably better than what is done by automated machines)
>but it takes too much work and time.
>
>For the TH hole parts, I noticed it takes much more time than the
>SMD ones! So I first tried to move as many TH components to SMD
>technology, but there are some which is impossibile to "convert",
>e.g. transistors that take less board space in TH form because
>they extend vertically (this is a space advantage of TH vs SMD
>in some cases!), so I have about 30 TH components left that I have
>to solder manually.
>
>It takes a lot of time.. like 5 or more seconds to solder a joint,
>but then on the opposite side of the PTH board often the solder
>doesn't rise well and I have to resolder the opposite side too.
>I have to use the flux pen on 2 sides of the board now, and as
>the components are larger than the SMD ones, it takes even more
>time anyway. Because of check here, resolder there, fix that, oh
>shit I filled a hole there, etc.. it takes even 10 minutes for
>each component in the end!
>
>As I wanna assemble a small serie (100's) of my hobbyst product
>by hand I need to be more productive else I will have to raise the
>sale price in an unacceptable way.
>
>So I thought about various possibilities to become more productive,
>that I'd like you pros to evaluate if possible:
>
>1) get at least the SMD parts done by a third party company.
>I will provide the gerber files for the PCB, the coordinates file
>for their pick 'n' place machine, and they'll make me the boards (half
>completed) for a convenient price, sourcing the components (mostly
>resistors and capacitors 0603,0805,1206) by themselves. So I buy their
>boards, in practice. Then I add the missing parts (as few as possible)
>and voil=E0.
>I will thus add by hand the most expensive components (if anything
>because I already bought them and I don't wanna waste them) and
>those components (TH?) which cannot be automatized.
>Can you suggest me some companies that would make the PCB and source
>and mount most of the components for me, at a reasonable price? I am
>located in the EU, I specify this because customs may otherwise turn
>a convenient company into one that is not.
>
>I have a self made oven and even stencils for this board, but then
>again the time it takes to pick and place manually the components
>is huge and I ended up soldering by hand, also because when you use
>stencils, etc.. there are even more errors you can do and to correct
>them takes a lot of time and stress. So I think that the only really
>productive solution would be the 1) above, i.e. get the board partially
>made by someone else which has nice automated machines to do it and
>can do it at a very convenient price. Yes but what company?
>
>2) for the TH, would applying flux cream and using a solder pot a
>working solution to get a lot of solder work done at once? Theoretically
>this would be a great solution I thought.. but will it work? Will it
>affect the other SMD components already soldered on top of the board?
>
>The board has both SMD and TH components only on top.
>
>Thanks for any insights!
>
>Greetings,
>Mario

At 100s, using a subcontractor for everything is a no-brainer - they will h=
ave a wavesolder machine
to do TH stuff  - there will be some setup costs but speed and quality will=
 be far higher than doing
it yourself.

--=20
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