[sdiy] SMD soldering by hand [was: dual "VCA" chip]

[Paul Maddox]

Hey Seb,

> Actually, I would go further and say that fine pitched packages  
> (e.g. less than 1.27mm pitch) are actually quicker to solder than  
> the bigger stuff as you don't have to solder each pin individually,  
> but rather can just run the loaded iron over all the pins (flux is  
> the key).

I agree with 100%, SMD is quicker and overall a lot more interesting  
as you can get a lot more on a board.

Here's a voice card from Defender ;-
http://www.vacoloco.net/synths/defender/images/voice_card_detail.jpg
(hand soldered in about 4 hours)

Now compare it to it's big brother ;-
http://www.vacoloco.net/synths/tempest/images/tempest_pcb_01.jpg
(hand soldered in about 6 hours)

same features, 4 oscillators, moog ladder, vca, pole sweep but 100%  
through hole parts. Granted there are 4 micro's for the oscillators  
and not one, but the SMD one is almost a quarter of the size of the  
through hole one.

Paul