Homebrew PCBs

I tend to use both.  The caps and other "jellybeans" get hot air 
soldered, while I still use the solder iron "drag" technique to get 
the fine pitch ic's down.  It's difficult to do 805 ceramic caps with 
an iron; they tend to develop cracks if not heated correctly.

BTW, I just got my mono video microscope yesterday.  I thought the 
200x would be too high, but it actually works pretty well for what I 
want to do with it.  On my 100pin tqfp's it shows 10 or so pins on 
the screen at a time, and actually has a little focal depth.   For 
$35, it's not too bad; although I'd trade anyone who wanted to swap 
their stereo bench microscope anytime.

http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=BMC2150-PB

-Dal