[sdiy] dsPIC33 question..

[Seb Francis]

Simon Brouwer wrote:
> Seb Francis schreef:
>
> (...)
>
>   
>> I'm also wondering about soldering, as before I used 0.8mm pitch parts,
>> and now everything is down to 0.5mm pitch.  But I'm guessing this will
>> be manageable as I think the CODEC ICs I used before were 0.65mm and
>> these weren't too bad to solder.  Actually I even wondering if the 0.4mm
>> parts are doable - anyone have experience soldering this kind of stuff
>> with a normal soldering iron?
>>     
>
> Yes, applying flux, soldering liberally, applying more flux, and removing
> the excess solder using solder wick.
>
> So far I have only done this using non-RoHS solder though. Anyone have
> experience doing this with RoHS compatible solder?
>
>   

Thanks Simon, I shall have no hesitation going this small then.  I will 
probably use SMT wherever possible on this project to keep the board 
nice and compact.  I actually quite enjoyed soldering the 4xD and found 
soldering the SMT ICs quicker in the end than DIP ones - the trick 
seemed to be to wipe the loaded soldering iron tip over the fluxed pins 
and with the right amount of solder on the tip there wasn't any need to 
remove excess with wick (well when I got it right anyway!).  I used a 
no-clean flux so I didn't have to bother with clean up afterwards.

Thanks also Zar for your experience - I doubt I shall be using RoHS 
solder anytime soon, unless they actually make it illegal to buy!  If I 
ever go the route of selling populated boards then it'll be RoHS, but I 
sure won't be soldering them by hand then.

Seb