[sdiy] Soldering SMT parts

[PQ]

I've been hand soldering 0603, 0402, and 0302's for some years now (many 
thousands of parts) I use sets of Selecta 7-SA or Clauss 7-SA surgical 
tweezers  with a square notch cut into the inside of the tips with a 
very fine file under a microscope. It keeps the parts from spinning when 
you hit them with the heat and solder. I've also taken cutters and made 
the tips very fine using a diamond wheel for fine wire. I also use the 
finest solder I can find. There is some out there that is very thin that 
works great for the chip parts as well as very fine pitch ics (like 
those horrible modem ics with countless pins, recently I've had to 
solder in bunches of 0402 caps under lifted leads and run wires to the 
top, hard to keep from bridging!). I'll see if I can find the part# for 
the really fine solder. For irons, my favorite was actually the old 
Hexacon 15w pencil types. They had some really nice tips (I use these at 
home) At work we're restricted to Metcals which makes it more difficult. 
The tips aren't quite as sharp. For vision it depends on the work. It'll 
be either naked eye, optivisor (of different mags.) or a microscope. 
Typically for 0402 or smaller or awg42 or thinner wire I'll go with the 
scope. For #28 and smaller flies (midges, mosquitoes) it's 15x 
optivisors  :-)  Bright and even lighting makes a huge difference!!
   Best advise is to dig up some junk boards with the small parts on 'em 
and practice (try to get the conformal coat off first tho ;-)
Take Care!
PQ

David Panseri wrote:

 > Any suggestions for a solid soldering station that will do SMT work
 > without breaking the bank?
 >
 > -Dave
 >
 > On 5/23/05, synth1 at airmail.net <synth1 at airmail.net> wrote:
 >
 >>> But I'm looking at the resistors and caps on a PCI card that 
happens to be
 >>> lying around, and I'm wondering how one solders those by hand. 
They're so
 >>> teeny; how do you hold them in place while soldering them?
 >>>
 >>
 >> 1206 and 0805 parts are doable with:
 >>
 >> a) really good tweezers. Techni-Tools to the rescue! (they stock 
like 100
 >> *different tweezers*)
 >>
 >> b) really good lighted magnifier (Luxo is $$$ but works great).
 >>
 >> c) fine no-clean solder, use 0.018 - 0.021 dia.
 >>
 >> Paul S.