Re: Rosetta progress report

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Neil Cherry" <njc@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

<stuff snipped>

> Anyway, SMT isn't too bad. My friend taught me that using the proper
> solder paste goes a long way towards doing it right.

It's an art, just like woodworking or paper hanging.  A professional
wallpaper hanger will go through 100 or more razor blades per room, an
amateur maybe three or four.  A pro understands that $5 worth of blades may
save $50 worth of time patching a bad cut from a dull blade.  I do a fairly
good job on plumbing and electrical work because they fit my big hands and I
do a great job at cabinetmaking and woodworking because big hands are often
a plus when working with hand planes and such and I've been doing it since I
was 12.

When you get to SMT you're getting into watchmaking and diamond cutting
skills.  Risks are much higher, at least to the subject material.  It's so
easy to overheat and kill small components.  With wood, the worst thing is
to cut something too short so you "measure twice" and cut once and use a
template or a jig whenever possible.  With SMT no amount of measuring's
going to save that teensy-tiny chip from too much heat.  I'm envious of the
guys who can do it because I know I am not one of them!

> While I can't do the really fine stuff I can solder the JDEC (?) and
> SOIC quite easily. And that was with the wrong size iron (too big).

JEDEC: Joint Electronic Device Engineering Council
   SOIC: Small Outline Integrated Circuit

I've been doing almost as much reading trying to get my arms around the
details of custom HA as I did for my Master's.  I wake up in the middle of
the night with some idea about how I am going to connect X to Y and have Z
do something based on some state change.  Like right now!

I guess if I really wanted to improve my skills I'd try *desoldering* some
of the SMT's on all the boards in the junkbin.  How do you guys vent your
solder fumes?  My most recent batch of solder came with a California Cancer
warning that implied that if solder fumes didn't lead to sudden death, they
would surely lead to an early grave.

Still, I *really* want one of Dave's BX-AHT's and someone's already bought
Don's so I might just buy an unpopulated board or two from Jeff and have a
go at it.  I haven't added to Dr. Greenenstein's horror drawer of deformed
devices destroyed by defective soldering.  I assume Dave's board is somewhat
more robust than the 4 layer laptop motherboards I've ruined!

:-)

--
Bobby G.