Homebrew PCBs

This is what I've found to work.

Get yourself an extra soldering iron fitted with a very fine tip. 
  Using some 0.5 mm diameter solder, tin one of the pads so its 
loaded with a small bead of solder, if both the pads are already 
beaded then use solder wick to remove solder from one of the 
pads. The idea is to have only one pad loaded with a bead of solder.

Get some good quality tweezes and hold the SMD chip in position 
and with your other hand touch the pad with the soldering iron, 
and let the SMD chip fall into place. Then you are free to solder 
the other pad. Use thin solder and a clean soldering tip so you 
can control how much solder the pads receive.

Desoldering is a pinch. Use two soldering irons on each pad, the 
SMD chip usually lifts off when you raise both soldering irons, 
and will stick to one of the tips. I give the iron a quick tap on 
a piece of wood to flick the SMD chip off.

note:
Rosin flux in ethanol is also very handy for SMD work.


aussiedude36 wrote:
> I have recently decided I need to utilize SMT resistors on one of my 
> designs as there simply isn't room for regular thru hole resistors. 
>>From reading recent posts it seems as if I would simply use solder 
> paste to glue/hold the SMT res. in place then heat it to melt the 
> solder. Can I do this with a soldering iron or do I need an expensive 
> hot air type machine? What stops the solder paste from bridging the 2 
> pads beneath the SMT Resistor? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
>  
> 
> 
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