DIYbanter - View Single Post

wrote:
Once you get used to those little ones, a 1206 (1/8" long) seems like a
cinder block. When I'm laying out & routing the board I zoom in about
10X, which magnifies the parts to about the size of the proverbial
postage stamp, The boards I just finished soldering are half the size
of a stamp.

Helpful hints: Wear an Optivisor with the #3 lens for soldering and the
flip-down round lens for inspection, use .015" rosin-core solder if
allowed, pull fine sandpaper between the tweezer tips to make them
parallel. IC leads can be checked by dragging a needle down them and
listening for the off-pitch sound of the needle hitting an unsoldered
pin.

Even easier:

1. Apply water-soluble flux to board
2. Lay down a thin layer of solder to all pads
3. Clean board and apply another coat of flux
4. Lay down part on top of pads and hit with hot air
5. Clean board

I regularly do 200+ pin ICs this way, for repairs
and prototypes. The only trick is aligning the part
to the board before you get a couple of pins tacked down.

JW, who has had to splice IC bonding wires with silver epoxy.

Never been there, never want to be...