Homebrew PCBs

On Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 04:53:16PM -0000, acidblue wrote:

> Wouldn't the air move the smaller parts?

It doesn't move 0603 parts at least. The solder paste will keep them
stuck in place.

One thing you do have to watch out for with small parts is "tombstoning".
The surface tension that keeps them from blowing away is not your
friend if you used too much solder paste (which is really easy to do).
What happens is your 0603 cap levitates itself vertical like a tombstone
(hence the name) if there's a bit too much solder paste on the terminals.
It's easy enough to correct (lay it back down again with tweezers while
you keep the solder molten, you only need three hands to do it) but
it will slow you down. (You need very very little solder paste, however
much you put down you'll find half the time it's still too much).