do you mean 'pick and place' machine? for DIY? Why?
I work for a company that sells 1000s of units a year and we don't own one, we subcontract. You can do down to 0805 packages by hand with a good soldering iron, magnifying bench light and a lot of patience...0603 and below you really need a microscope!
I work for a company that sells 1000s of units a year and we don't own one, we subcontract. You can do down to 0805 packages by hand with a good soldering iron, magnifying bench light and a lot of patience...0603 and below you really need a microscope!
I routinely do packages as small as 603 using a lighted bench magnifier and a good pair of non-magnetic tweezers, though I am much more comfortable with 805 and 1206 sizes. A small-tipped soldering iron ( a Metcal is the best, if you can afford one), 0.031" solder, and pre-tinning the pads also help a lot. The non-magnetic tweezers are needed because a lot of parts use nickel barrier layers. These will stick to magnetized tweezers, making accurate placement difficult. A roll of small sized solder wick is also useful for cleaning up any solder bridges between leads. Because the pads are small, it is quite possible to have an open solder joint that looks passable under naked eye inspection. A low power microscope can be very useful for final inspection.
Some years ago, I visit an electronic factory, and saw that a full line production SMD machine requires alot of machines, needs room bigger than 2 rooms. The brand was Siemens.
But as time travels, I wonder if now there is available prototype SMD machine (small units), from "pick and place" to soldering oven, that can be put in garage.
How much will it cost?
But as time travels, I wonder if now there is available prototype SMD machine (small units), from "pick and place" to soldering oven, that can be put in garage.
How much will it cost?
jackinnj said:
I do down to 0603 by hand, 0805 are a cinch, and 1206 feel downright clumsy. This is the first I've heard about solder paste lasting for a long time, though. I find that as soon as it has been out of the freezer for a few moments, the emulsion separates. I generally order new paste for any project I am going to do, and discard them when the project is finished. Perhaps this is particular to lead-free solder pastes?
I'm making drawings for a master clock that includes a chip-scale package without any leads at all. This is new territory for me, I'll report back how well it takes in the toaster oven.
jwb said:
I had heard the same thing about solder pastes until I found about the Kester room temperature paste -- I don't use it with a mask, I use a very sharp probe to apply the paste onto the PCB pads.
I think that I drink too much coffee to do 0603. I agree that the 1206's look downright "big", but in the final analysis they are fine.
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