At some stage you will have to work with surface-mount devices (SMDs) and solder them by hand. You can wait until you are forced to learn, or you can leap into the fray with gusto and abandon. At some ...

For most of us, soldering electronics means soldering on “through hole components,” that are large and easy to handle. However, when machines build components, they use “surface mount components,” ...

Hackaday writer [Gerrit Coetzee] built a simple clamp to aid in surface mount component soldering. This cheap, easily made device uses gravity to hold tiny components in place. The tip of the bolt is ...

Friday afternoon I had the pleasure of sitting in on a surface mount soldering workshop. I’ve done some surface mount soldering before and am quite adept with a soldering iron, but this focused on ...

Fine solder, a Metcal fine-tip iron, magnifying glass, and a steady hand. Tin the end pads at opposite corners, tack those legs down, then flow solder into the rest.

The TDD Series surface mount jumper DIP switches from C&K components are sealed with a removable top tape to enable them to be used in reflow soldering and washable assembly processes. The switches ...

Tyco Electronics has introduced a line of surface-mount headers with 0.100-in. centerlines that can withstand up to 280°C soldering temperatures. Tyco Electronics has introduced a line of ...

Most, if not all, engineers know how to handle a soldering iron. But there are a few folks in the industry who want to know more about those wisps of smoke they sometimes see rising from our ...

In the mid-1980s, the electronics industry began a nearly unanimous move towards using surface-mount technology (SMT), Figure 1. This article assumes you have an existing PCB or other suitable board ...