Surface mount soldering

[KLEIN_B at a1.wdc.com]

You don't need the paste or anything special.  I work on disk drives
all the time at WD.  All of it is surface mount.  Everything is just
smaller, that's all.  Regular soldering techniques work if you are
capable and can see the stuff.  There is a flux solution available
that makes the solder flow better across multiple pin devices but
you have to clean it off afterwards with a flux cleaner.  Realize
that there are several sizes/types of components for surface mount.
The first stuff we used was pretty cool for homebrew construction.
Pin spacings were close to .1 inch, the resistors and caps were .1 inch
or so terminal to terminal, etc.  But now with the 100+ pin devices
and 1/8watt and smaller resistors etc. the stuff is too damn small.
I have to wear those head-mount magnifiers all the time.  My eyes
get worse year by year.  But we have rework girls that can work on
this stuff without them! (but they are making more and more mistakes!)
So, it depends on the sizes of SMT stuff you work with.  I expect
that in a few years we will be paying a premium for through-hole parts,
there will be so much more volume in the smaller SMT stuff.

What's funny is that from what I've seen, single transistors and fets
are still quite usable in SMT form.  Nice size to work with.  So maybe
us homebrew types will have to go back to fully discrete designs (!)
just kidding....


klein_b at a1.wdc.com