Homebrew PCBs

"Stefan Trethan" <stefan_trethan@...> writes:
> Someone recently posted PICs about using CNC drilled brass for
> stencils.  The holes are of course round but that is not a problem.

"Plus, I don't have drills small enough for the SMD pads."

> How much are you going to do? You know you can just bulk-paste a row of  
> pins with a bead over all of them?

Yeah, I've done that for TQFPs but the next project has an SMD
connector with the pins underneath, if there's shorts I won't be able
to see or fix them.  The paste for that is about 11x40 mils, far from
round.  So I want to be very careful about putting the right amount of
paste in the right place.

Plus I have a hard time making a bead narrow enough for 0.5mm parts
without lots of bridges.