"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote in message
. 3.70...
"Jim Wilkins" fired this volley in
news:lvpki2$j5c
:

That started in the 1980's with surface-mount electronics, which
are
substantially more difficult to repair by hand than thru-hole, and
not
reliable unless the tech who solders on the new parts is more than
usually skilled and experienced. I got the experience on lab
prototypes where a solder failure was only a brief inconvenience
instead of costing a field service call.

Jim, are you familiar with "Chip Quick" alloy?

It's a 'solder' with a large hysteresis between melting point and
re-
solidification point. It allows you to 'dope' all the leads of an
SMT
component, then simply run a hot iron 'round it once, and lift it
off the
board as if it were not even soldered down.

Re-soldering is just as easy, as the stuff has amazingly high
surface
tension (automatically centering the chip on the leads), and a very
low
tendency to oxidize.

Lloyd

I've retired and hope to never solder another SMT component.