I just finished soldering a SMD board by hand. (with a soldering iron.) It wasn't easy and I've probably overheated a few components - and it got me thinking:
SMD components get smaller every year, and ICs get more highly integrated.
Soon there will be no commercial demand for thru-hole components and the manufacturers will stop making them.
SMD parts will be so small most of us will have trouble seeing them without a magnifier. Discrete transistors/diodes will probably be a thing of the past (except for power devices) and semiconductors devices will be complete subcircuits.
We wont be able to take a soldering iron and build anything. And even if we had access to the appropriate equipment, there won't be much to build because any components available will be complete systems-on-a-chip instead of discrete devices.
Where does that leave the hobbyist ?
SMD components get smaller every year, and ICs get more highly integrated.
Soon there will be no commercial demand for thru-hole components and the manufacturers will stop making them.
SMD parts will be so small most of us will have trouble seeing them without a magnifier. Discrete transistors/diodes will probably be a thing of the past (except for power devices) and semiconductors devices will be complete subcircuits.
We wont be able to take a soldering iron and build anything. And even if we had access to the appropriate equipment, there won't be much to build because any components available will be complete systems-on-a-chip instead of discrete devices.
Where does that leave the hobbyist ?
It is likely to leave us programming chips. There are an increasing range of programmable chips with ever-increasing specifications and capabilities.
For those who prefer the smell of solder, I see a market opening for hobbyist level SMD device tools such as microscopes, micromanipulators, and reflow soldering tools.
For those who prefer the smell of solder, I see a market opening for hobbyist level SMD device tools such as microscopes, micromanipulators, and reflow soldering tools.
I thought the same thing when surface mount started becoming popular, but many of us have kept up. I thought the .05" pitch SOIC's would be the death of me, especially needing glasses to see what I'm doing, but I've done those and pitch half that size, which covers just about everything I've needed to do. The five-inch magnifier with the circular fluorescent bulb helped too. There was someone bragging on sci.electronic.design of having successfully soldered down a 01005 capacitor, but he didn't say how many he lost trying to do it..
But of course the traditional reflow oven of hobbyists has been the toaster oven.
I've wondered about that. I've even seen more "inexpensive" tools. Twenty years ago I saw a $1,500 reflow station, and I wondered why I couldn't do the same thing at a tenth of the price with a heat gun and two variacs, one for the fan motor and one for the heating element.
But of course the traditional reflow oven of hobbyists has been the toaster oven.
The company I work for sells a motor driver chip that's a couple mm square and has a tiny ball grid on the back that I can barely see. The capabilities of that chip are mind boggling for its size, and it's the wave of the future, but that future doesn't include the diy hobbyist.
IMHO, the audiophiles fascination with reproduction quality is a generational thing, not shared by most people under 30. I apologize to the exceptions. Most of the things we build are more quality oriented than feature oriented and my guess is audiophiles as we recognize them will fade away within a decade or two.
IMHO, the audiophiles fascination with reproduction quality is a generational thing, not shared by most people under 30. I apologize to the exceptions. Most of the things we build are more quality oriented than feature oriented and my guess is audiophiles as we recognize them will fade away within a decade or two.
.............my guess is audiophiles as we recognize them will fade away within a decade or two.
I'll do my best to keep it going (relatively young at 16), but I can't make any promises.
Well Conrad, I remember back in the '80s sitting in the office of a friend who was well placed in the audio world (still is). He was lamenting the eminent death of the DIY audio hobby. To paraphrase him. "Kids today just aren't interested, they can buy great stuff of the shelf. Those who grew up in the 40's and 50's could not, but they could get great results with simple mods to mom & dad's old tube record player. That got us started. Now (the 1980s) there is not need to do that, so not much interest in DIY. It's going to die out soon, unfortunately."
I would say his prediction pretty much missed the mark.
DIY seems more active than ever, probably thanks to the Internet and forums like this one.
I would say his prediction pretty much missed the mark.
DIY seems more active than ever, probably thanks to the Internet and forums like this one.
Conrad,
People with ears on have been around for a long time and are not about to loose them, the love of music is also quite old.....
Audiophilies will allways exist and the fight against " good enough " will remain strong....people allways desire a choice and mass marketing of good enough gear does not convince those that want the best music they can get.....at least this is my belief.
I'm optimistic.
People with ears on have been around for a long time and are not about to loose them, the love of music is also quite old.....
Audiophilies will allways exist and the fight against " good enough " will remain strong....people allways desire a choice and mass marketing of good enough gear does not convince those that want the best music they can get.....at least this is my belief.
I'm optimistic.
I'm not saying people will lose interest in DIY.
What worries me is that people will be interested, but they won't be able to go out and buy a 1K resistor or a 2uF capacitor that can be seen with the naked eye.
What will you do when the day comes when excellent Audiophile Op Amps are available to buy, but they are designed to only work on a multilayer PCB with heat conduction through vias, and you have to buy them in lots of 1000 pieces ?
I disagree, the internet has been one of the worser things to happen to DIY. I've found that young enthusiasts are definitely pretty thin on the ground these days.I would say his prediction pretty much missed the mark.
I'll omit the controversial phrase I had in mind, but it is a function of no longer having any unified sources that the age of the library used to provide us. FOTM is what today's active DIY is about, yet most of the topical FOTM cycles are (to me) rottenly uninspiring.
As for SMD - yes, this change has pushed up the entry costs, but if there is a real enthusiasm behind the technology then there are plenty of ways to economically overcome this.
Hey, do you remember Popular Electronics and Radio Electronics magazines. They're not around anymore. I saw the handwriting on the wall. That's why you should save every piece of electronic equipment you can find. In many communities here in the States they have recycling events at shopping centers where they charge you to take your electronic equipment! I sit out in front in my pickup and tell them I'll take their equipment for free.
I think the internet hasn't made a real difference. In the old days, electronics was hard work, so only the dedicated ones would make a hobby of it. There were few, but they were good.
Today, you can go on the net and buy a kit with idiot-proof instructions (maybe even pre-soldered for you), so every other guy with money to burn can call himself a geek and a hobbyist.
The good DIY'ers are still there, they're just not visible among all the noise.
Today, you can go on the net and buy a kit with idiot-proof instructions (maybe even pre-soldered for you), so every other guy with money to burn can call himself a geek and a hobbyist.
The good DIY'ers are still there, they're just not visible among all the noise.
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Here's some of my handiwork, my very own adapter, not bad for an old fart:
A 5-inch magnifier with the circular fluorescent bulb was an essential part of soldering that, and when I was done it just wouldn't work for me, until I realized I had the chip and "pin 1" rotated 90 degrees. I used a cheap flipcam to take that pic, through the 5" magnifier, and with its autofocus and whatnot, only one of five pics ended up in focus.
Things have certainly changed, but some good and some bad, so it may be a wash. Yes, there's a huge amount of information for free on the Internet, though a substantial amount of it is wrong. At least with printed and published books and magazines there's some editing and vetting that goes on.
Did I learn something from building Heathkits starting about age 8? I got familiar with different components at a young age, but also, when I was 12 to 14 I had an electronics class in high school (does any public high school still offer such a thing? No doubt that got dropped with shop class), started reading through all the Heath manuals, not just what I built but the ones my father had - specifically the "Circuit Description" part, along with the schematic. This was a valuable resource, telling the purpose of just about every component in the circuit.
If anyone reading this doesn't have at least LTSpice installed on your computer, if not also thousand-dollar simulator software, go install it now.
Just don't throw away your resistors and capacitors.
A 5-inch magnifier with the circular fluorescent bulb was an essential part of soldering that, and when I was done it just wouldn't work for me, until I realized I had the chip and "pin 1" rotated 90 degrees. I used a cheap flipcam to take that pic, through the 5" magnifier, and with its autofocus and whatnot, only one of five pics ended up in focus.
Things have certainly changed, but some good and some bad, so it may be a wash. Yes, there's a huge amount of information for free on the Internet, though a substantial amount of it is wrong. At least with printed and published books and magazines there's some editing and vetting that goes on.
Did I learn something from building Heathkits starting about age 8? I got familiar with different components at a young age, but also, when I was 12 to 14 I had an electronics class in high school (does any public high school still offer such a thing? No doubt that got dropped with shop class), started reading through all the Heath manuals, not just what I built but the ones my father had - specifically the "Circuit Description" part, along with the schematic. This was a valuable resource, telling the purpose of just about every component in the circuit.
I can hear it now: "Who needs resistors and capacitors when you have simulation software?"
If anyone reading this doesn't have at least LTSpice installed on your computer, if not also thousand-dollar simulator software, go install it now.
Just don't throw away your resistors and capacitors.
I know, I know, I have a brilliant idea, we could start a Group Buy Forum!
I dare say the instructions of kits in the past two decades aren't as good as the old Heathkit manuals - not sure I'd trust a modern-day assembly manual for a product with a CRT in it. Not that anyone makes CRT's anymore...
I actually prefer working with SMD parts. 1206 cases are easy to work with as are the SOIC parts. These will stick around for the reasons chris661 mentioned.
SMD requires no drilling of PCBSs and no cutting off of leads, you also don't need to flip the board over all the time to trim the leads etc.
I disliked SMD, then I realised that I was shooting myself in the foot if I couldn't adapt to using them. At most, all you need in combination with your usual equipment, is a magnifying lens, a pair of tweezers and I'd already expect you to have some solder wick/braid.
Once you try and get used to SMD you realise how annoying through holes can be!
SMD requires no drilling of PCBSs and no cutting off of leads, you also don't need to flip the board over all the time to trim the leads etc.
I disliked SMD, then I realised that I was shooting myself in the foot if I couldn't adapt to using them. At most, all you need in combination with your usual equipment, is a magnifying lens, a pair of tweezers and I'd already expect you to have some solder wick/braid.
Once you try and get used to SMD you realise how annoying through holes can be!
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