Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Homebrew PCBs

This worked very well for my first try. I purchased the solder paste
from Mcmaster as specified by Derek. I thined it a little bit too
much with water though, so be careful there.

I used a glue brush (you folks probably call them acid brushes) to
flow out the paste. Hit it with the heat gun moving around pretty
slowly. At first I couldn't see anything happening so I held the gun
stationary too long which turned the board a tint of brown. To help
see what is going on, I placed a light on the right side of the board,
heat gun over the board, and looked from the left side. After doing
this I could see the solder melting and joining together on the traces.

I coated and heated about 4 or 5 times and I think I got 99% coverage
on the traces. After washing thoroughly, I polished it with
scotchbright and it looks pretty good.

So, from a newbie point of view, it isn't that difficult to do. Also,
one more very interesting thing I noticed. You know that smell of a
new car, well, if you are using the same solder paste as I did, let me
know if you think you have a new car there :-) Very unusual, it
really smelt like a new car - I just wish I could afford one!

Chris