I do no know why there is so much apprehension regarding SMT work, James.

*The smaller size is not a real problem, use magnifier if needed.

*Soldering/desoldering is actually much faster than thru-hole, consider that you do not have to turn the board over at all, looking for the footprint on the other side, for one thing.

*Pair of demagnetized tweezers comes in very handy for grabbing parts, whether putting them down for the first time or removing them.

As with any other soldering process, *practice* is the key. I recommend that you find any old PCB from any old thing that has SMT components on it and practice desoldering, soldering, etc. for a few minutes on that, start out with the chip resistors and chip capacitors, then move up to the 3-pin devices, then to the 8-pin.

It's a breeze.

Aluminum, I like to MIG weld, but there are times when I've had to do something out of the ordinary, such as that time we needed to solder a ground wire to an aluminum stick. There are special fluxes and solders for that trick, same rules apply, clean both surfaces bright and get in there and get out, solder follows the heat, etc. And again, it pays to practice on something else first before attempting to do the final job.


--Mac

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