# My build progress **URL:** \ **Category:** DIY STUFF\ **Created:** [March 1, 2020, 8:57pm UTC](https://lookmumnocomputer.discourse.group/t/my-build-progress/345 "2020-03-01T20:57:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 1480
**Author:** ![juggle](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/lookmumnocomputer.discourse.group/juggle/32/6100_2.png) [@juggle](https://lookmumnocomputer.discourse.group/u/juggle)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://lookmumnocomputer.discourse.group/t/my-build-progress/345/1480 "2020-10-06T15:50:24Z")
Beautiful case. Don’t be scared of surface mount - but it does help to have a few specialist tools. A cheap hot air station (Like the 858D that’s usally about $70), a good magnifier, some good fine tip tweezers (a lot of the hot air stations come with them free.) and a syringe of solder paste with some assorted sizes of luer lock tips…add in a little practice and you’ll be set 😃 If you want to step it up then a video microscope helps even more than a magnifier, and getting stencils to go with the boards eliminates the need for the syringe and makes it a LOT easier to get the right amount of paste on pads. That was the hardest part for me - learning how to dispense just the right amount of paste manually. Stepping up from my magnifier to a video scope helped with that a lot. The MI boards might be a bit advanced for a first SMD project though. I’d suggest picking a smaller project or two to warm up on and get the technique down first. --- _[View the full topic](https://lookmumnocomputer.discourse.group/t/my-build-progress/345)._