[sdiy] SDIY -vs RoHS - more

[Paul Schreiber]

> Isn't this going to all-but kill synth DIY? Aside from all-transistor circuits 
> and a few hardy people who do analogue with surface-mount...

Well, what it's going to do is force a paradigm shift (most over-used phrase in 
.com era, but valid). Just like the end of DOS computers forced a shift from 
assembly language on a PC to C/C++, the RoHS WILL force a shift to SMT. So, this 
means that 'perf boards' are out, pc boards are in. Look at www.beldynsys.com 
for example. Larger SMT parts soldering is NOT that bad, in cases it's *easier* 
than through hole. There are MANY US suppliers of pc boards that will ship you 
3pcs of a 25cm x 25cm board in 1 week for $100.

But it won't be an overnight thing. It will be a 3-5yr thing but it WILL greatly 
effect all of us, including end-product suppliers like MOTM, Doepfer, Serge, 
etc. This will happen in 2 areas:

a) shipping *into* Europe and people building in Europe
b) availability of parts, and what will be the greatest immediate effect is 
leaded resistors/caps/diodes/etc. Because, what % of these types of parts are 
shipped *today* in non-SMT? I'll guess <5%. Next year? ZIP!

Paul S.