[sdiy] Opinion poll - Through Hole ~vs~ SMT

[David G Dixon]

> Having moved over to SMD approaches, I find proto builds 
> *much* quicker to stuff - really, like zip zip zip.
> (0805 is my typical)
> But I have a distinct feeling that many won't be wanting to 
> move over to SMD.
> It was scary to me too, but actually it is very DIY-able.

Yeah, Danjel tells me he can stuff his SMD protos very quickly as well, but
I find that it only takes me an hour or so to stuff a large through-hole
board.  I think a lot has to do with how organized and systematic one is.
Through-hole parts can be laid out in advance in a way which renders them
easy to pick up and stuff, while SMD parts really must be "harvested" from
their little tapes one at a time.  Through-hole parts require some prepping
-- bending and trimming of leads -- and also lead snipping after soldering.
However, if one is systematic, and if ones board is laid out in a way that
the resistors and diodes are all the same length on the board, then I think
that this prep work can be done within the time it would take to pick up the
SMD part solidly with tweezers.  Finally, if the through-hole parts are
stuffed in a systematic order -- I do mine according to height -- then this
also goes very fast.  For example, it might take me 10 minutes to stuff 50
resistors, then the board is inverted onto a small plank or metal plate and
all the soldering is done at once in about five minutes, with another two
minutes to snip.  I doubt very much that someone could install 50 SMD
resistors any faster.

(Of course, boards are easier to stuff when the parts line up in neat little
rows.  Boards with more random parts placement are much harder to stuff.)