First try with SMD - An “Experience Report”

DIY STUFF
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First and foremost - Package difference.
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As pictured above THT (Through-Hole) Vs. SMD (Surface Mount).
My first experience with these has been 1206 Resistors and the other various tiny parts that makeup the 2XADSR that is on Reverb.

Here is a picture of my first attempt at populating the board with Resistors and Capacitors:

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(Would love some feedback from more experienced DIY gurus, lol)
I have not cleaned the board yet, as I am not finished.

Experience Report:

First there was pure dread and anxiety due to how ridiculously small some of these components are. (see fig.1)

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(fig. 1)

Next, my first few resistors did not look so hot… (see fig. 2)

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(fig. 2)

Then I started to get the hang of it… (see fig. 3)

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(fig. 3)

And after that, I started populating the board and reflowed all of the first few resistors and that would be that picture way up there that I asked for feedback on lol.

I really like that I did not have to snip a bunch of leads and it uses significantly less solder per component.

I am very much enjoying my first go round with SMD and suggest to anyone else who is nervous about trying it, get something like this 2XADSR because it is super cheap and almost all of it can be bought from Mouser! (Shopping Cart for 2XADSR)

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Looks way, way better than my first several attempts :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:. Incidentally, I’m still working on finishing that same 2xADSR build.

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Wow, that’s a lot more ambitious than my first SMD:

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My first attempt at an SMD module, PMFoundations Sample and Hold (Eurorack) was a lot lower part count too. Needed some assistance rescuing that one after I managed to put the IC in backwards.

I just finished my second, a dual ring modulator also from PMFoundations and also a low part count.

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That one I got working on my own, though not before an hour or so tracking down an intermittent joint.

I have a MFOS/Synthcube LFO PCB and panel, and it takes a lot more parts than these, 0805 package rather than 1206. Gonna be a bit of time before I tackle that.

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Be careful not to accidentally inhale the Surface Mounts. /s

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My issue is more that I drop them on the floor and can’t seem to make them out even if they’re right in front of me

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Has anyone tried reflow at home?
Something like this guy does:

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It’s on my list of things to do. Reflow sounds much less error-prone than hand soldering.

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Oi vey. I think I’d rather pay a robot to do it.

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He’s doing it the hard way, on a frying pan over a gas hob. You can get more consistent results using a toaster oven (which you obviously shouldn’t also use for food, there’s some nasty stuff being cooked here.) You can also use a cooking thermometer of sufficient precision instead of the remote design he uses here. Adafruit even sells a kit to monitor and control the reflow process in a toaster oven.

As he remarks, the advantage of the reflow process is that the components tend to float onto the pads during the process. The result is a cleaner job, and it’s much quicker than doing it by hand.

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Oh I drop loads of stuff and I invariably need help to find things. Trust me, eventually it will probably turn up as grit in your sock.

I’ve got a very slim shard of glass from a shattered wine bottle embedded in the ball of my foot. It must have lain on the floor for days until one day I happened to tread on it.

With glass, there’s no serious problem. It callouses over and you forget about it. With SMD, though, you need to be careful. They could be forward scouts for the Cyberman invasion.

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Kosmo army seeds …

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