On Sat, 11 Mar 2017 16:15:51 -0500, Ralph Mowery
wrote:

In article ,
says...


Here we go with those initials "SMD" again. I keep seeing that in posts
on here and elsewhere. So I better ask...
What the heck does SMD mean?

SMD is surface mounted device. For resistors and capacitors they are
usually small and flat. They are usually silver colored on the ends.
That is there you solder them to the circuit board. The ICs will often
have what seems like very short leads. They lay flat on the circuit
board also.

Check out this youtube video as to what they are and ways to work with
them. For very much work it helps to have a good 10 to 20 power
stereo microscope.



Now that I know what the initials mean, I know what these are. I have
seen them. As far as I'm concerned, they are the devices which cant not
be repaired, unless the whole boards are replaced. Yes, i am sure they
can be repaired, but it wont be me working on them. Poor eyesite is just
part of the reason. Thats why I prefer the old tube stuff to work on, or
at least the early transistorized stuff on single layer boards, which
contain parts that can be touched without using a tweezers....

For me, IC chips and SMDs took the fun out of electronics as a hobby...
(Not that they are bad, but they are not for the home workshop, they are
made for robots in factories that create them, and people who have very
expensive test gear to trace them). I still recall trying to unsolder
some IC chips, and ruining them every time. Then spending days or weeks
trying to locate replacement parts, because they are factory numbers
that cant just simply be purchased.