[sdiy] Humans are not Becoming Smaller

[Magnus Danielson]

From: "R. D. Davis" <rdd at rddavis.org>
Subject: [sdiy] Humans are not Becoming Smaller (was: SMD comming your way)
Date: 29 May 2005 11:39:57 -0400,Sun, 29 May 2005 11:39:57 -0400
Message-ID: <20050529153957.GC42102 at rhiannon.rddavis.org>

Dear R. D.,

> Quothe Magnus Danielson, from writings of Sun, May 29, 2005 at
> 12:49:16PM +0200:
> > Not to mention the floor in that whole area. I'd say your at least 10 meters
> > walking distance from non-ESD floorspace where you sit.
> 
> Who in their right mind wants all that needless complexity?
> Anti-static tweezers, anti-static soldering irons, extra large areas
> of non-ESD floorspace, magnifying glasses for all assembly work, etc.,
> humbug!  With the types of circuits and equipment that we're building,
> circuit boards, chasis, etc. don't have to be tiny.  It's bad enough
> that some people are miniaturizing switches, jacks, plugs and other
> controls as if people are shrinking as well, but the fact is, people
> are not shrinking in size.  
> 
> Again, please pay attention to this, some people on this list don't
> appear to realize, or be able to comprehend, the following: humans are
> not shrinking in size so as to be able to find vastly smaller
> components more convenient for SDIY.
> 
> There's no need to make everything so small that circuit design,
> building, modification, troubleshooting, repair, etc. becomes an
> inconvenience.  Hobbies should be fun, as should careers, so there's
> no reason to be working with such small devices in many instances, for
> the purposes of an income or a hobby.

You are totally missing a few points here. First of all, the everyday
technology is getting more complex and itself shrinking. Cellular phones, PDAs,
laptops, MP3 players etc. is becoming everyday tools for more and more people.
This is where the mainstream for the electronics is moving. This also helps
lowering prices and making components we use for our hobby cheap and available.
Top of the problems such as ROHS and we are looking at a real danger of the
eventual having hard (I'm not saying impossible, just hard) getting our hands
on the components we take for granted now.

The increased frequency by which our appliances work with also forces us to
reduce size of our components. Cellular phones moved passed 950 MHz up to
1,8 and 1,9 GHz. BlueTooth, WLAN-cards and DECT phones operate in the 2,4 GHz
band. Stuff like that isn't for thru-hole. Computers and game-consoles is all
up there too. I could go on.

Then, since SMD is available you can use it for your benefit. You don't have to
be as extreme as Sten is, but he is trying to make a point that even those he
is able to hand-solder, so doing it with 1206 or 0805 components should be
accessable to do work with for many people. Just the shrinkage of going from
normal thru-hole to 1206 resistors and caps can be very usefull in DIY
community.

When we are reporting how a modern lab where we need to do rather complex
things work, that is in order to help lift the vail over the problems around
SMD. The fact that it is not only until 01005 you need to really care about
electrostatics and really clean tweezers gives hope to those wishing to do
0805 or 0603 at home.

> Remember, if it's a nuisance to assemble, it's going to be even more
> of a nuisance to modify.  The more tiny parts that hobbyists, small
> businesses, etc. start buying, the fewer the larger, through-hole,
> components will be sold, and that might be enough to convince some
> lower-volume suppliers, that sell to hobbyists and small businesses,
> to stop carrying the larger components.  

Sorry, but the move is on anyway. As much as I am sympathising with the
problems I too have to face the reality and start to do SMD myself. There will
sure be suppliers, but we've all been spoiled by the easy access to thru-hole
components and it will not be quite the same.

So, we have to choose how we are to handle things, either stick with thru-hole
and just hope that it will work long enought or rather embrace the new SMD
technology and learn to use it and adapt to it. Sten is certainly advocating
for the later and you for the previous alternative.

Then, both Sten and I firmly beleive that _some_ things, such as certains
connectors etc. where mechanical stress is involved is better done thru-hole
then surface mount. Remember that mechanical stress also can come from heat, so
some of that may better be done thru-hole. However, better components are
comming all the time.

Respectfully Yours,
Magnus