Homebrew PCBs

At 09:34 PM 9/23/2004, upand_at_them wrote:
>I just realized something...
>
>How can I solder a two-sided board if I'm using sockets for the
>IC's?  Ugh!

In addition to the other advice already given, also consider the use of 
machine pin IC sockets - Augat & Assman come to mind.  Their design allows 
easy soldering of top side connections.

I will often add a short stub 0.062" wide to the outside edge of all 
top-side IC pin connections - these serve as a marker to ensure that I 
don't miss a top-side connection on a socket as well as providing just a 
little more surface area for easier soldering.  That width of 0.062" is the 
width of the IC pads.

One of my techs had another trick that is often useful - he would go into 
the plot files for the board in question and manually delete any top-side 
pads that had no connection.  I'm not quite sure how he determined just 
what to delete (it's just a file full of numbers) but however he did it, it 
was remarkably effective in ensuring that all top-side connections were made.

dwayne

-- 
Dwayne Reid   <dwayner@...>
Trinity Electronics Systems Ltd    Edmonton, AB, CANADA
(780) 489-3199 voice          (780) 487-6397 fax

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