Starting Out in SMT

Chat about pick and place machines, reflow ovens, assembly techniques and other SMT tips & trix

Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
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terryd1
 
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Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 5:15 am

Re: Starting Out in SMT

Post by terryd1 »

Hi,

Recently, my partner has indicated that she is willing to have a go at SMD after finding that thru hole is not so hard.

There were some sample pcbs released by adafruit_support_mike a while back (Feb 2010) eg http://info.yawp.com/blog/2012/36/smt-t ... index.html to name one of a few mentioned.

This server now appears unreachable. Does anybody have these files or are they available on another server?

I would really like to see my wife progress onto SMT building something she would find useful!

Regards

Terry

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Starting Out in SMT

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

For the past few days my servers have been getting hit by an Eastern European botnet trying to exploit BIND vulnerabilities. BIND is the software that makes DNS work, so my ISP and I have been blocking and altering the DNS traffic to keep the attack from taking down the whole network. That's messing with their visibility online.

I can see that server from where I'm sitting at 6pm Sunday night, so hopefully you'll be able to see the projects again before long.

BTW - big kudos to your wife on starting SMT. It isn't hard, and is fun once you get used to it. ;-)

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terryd1
 
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Re: Starting Out in SMT

Post by terryd1 »

Thanks Mike

I have passed on your comments to my wife.

I still can't see the server but I will keep trying now I know it is intermittent

Regards

Terry

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terryd1
 
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Re: Starting Out in SMT

Post by terryd1 »

Hi Mike,

I still can't get to the link above at :

http://info.yawp.com/blog/2012/36/smt-t ... index.html

Is the server up? I get a message saying the server is not contactable in the browser - it actually comes back as an unknown host by ping.

Regards

Terry

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Starting Out in SMT

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

The servers are still down thanks to a truly amazing combination of botnet, power, cabling, and record-keeping issues. Rather than making you wait through the meteor strike that I'm expecting next, I'll attach the compressed projects to this thread.

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Starting Out in SMT

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Okay: this attachment contains the files for the square wave generators.
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smt-square-wave.zip
SMT Square Wave
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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Starting Out in SMT

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

This attachment contains the design files for the pulse generators:
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pulse-generator.zip
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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Starting Out in SMT

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

This attachment contains the design files for the mosfet-controlled LED indicator boards:
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led-boards.zip
(679.42 KiB) Downloaded 412 times

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gabriel.p
 
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Re: Starting Out in SMT

Post by gabriel.p »

Mike where I can use led-boards? And what is SMT and SMD can you tell me please.

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Starting Out in SMT

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

'SMD' stands for 'Surface Mount Device' and 'SMT' stands for 'Surface Mount Technology'. They're synonyms, and refer to all those tiny block-like components that are used instead of 'Through-Hole' components with leads that stick through holes in the PCB:
This is a current source, not an LED board.  It uses SMT components though.
This is a current source, not an LED board. It uses SMT components though.
pcb-small.jpg (65.84 KiB) Viewed 4383 times
The LED boards let you connect LEDs to a circuit "for free". In most cases, when you add an LED to a circuit you also have to add a resistor to limit the current, and you have to make sure that part of the circuit can supply the 10-25mA of current necessary to make the LED work. If you want to use an LED with a signal that can't supply a lot of current, you have to bring in a transistor and all the stuff necessary to make that work too.

The LED board puts all those pieces in one place. The LEDs already have resistors, and are driven by mosfets that can supply enough current to run the LED without having any noticable effect on the original circuit. Adding an LED to a circuit becomes as easy as "plug in the control wire".

It's also a space saver. An LED and resistor fill at least two rows of a breadboard. Adding a transistor takes the row count up to at least four. By the time you put half a dozen LEDs in a circuit, you've used up a lot of breadboard space. Moving all the LED hardware off to a separate board leaves you more breadboard space for circuits that do interesting stuff.

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terryd1
 
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Re: Starting Out in SMT

Post by terryd1 »

Hi Mike,

This is long overdue, but THANKS!!. I have been ill for quite a while and unable to do much and I guess my wife has been busy looking after me in that time but she is now able to try her hand at SMT so she was very happy when I told her I could download the files from the links you posted. (Still can't access the server by the way)

She will enjoy, I am sure.

Thanks again.

Terry

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phild13
 
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Re: Starting Out in SMT

Post by phild13 »

It appears the server is back up at this time
http://info.yawp.com/blog/2012/36/smt-t ... index.html

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nsayer
 
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Re: Starting Out in SMT

Post by nsayer »

If you're looking for inspiration, I would just page through the OSHPark shared projects page(s): https://oshpark.com/shared_projects

They're mostly not documented very well, but most of them have descriptive titles at least that make for good Google fodder.

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brigad
 
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Re: Starting Out in SMT

Post by brigad »

I am looking at using a 3-axis accelerometer in a project. Looks like all the ones I want are LGA-14. I've tried two approaches: soldering superfine wire-wra
pping conductors directly to the pads, and using an LGA-14 breakout board I found. I'm testing the "hairy" solution in an hour or so and the breakout board, well it's hard to see but under the microscope I doubt I got the solder to flow to the pads. I'll test it later.

This is just to evaluate the things. I created an LGA-14 landing map in my PCB tool and hope to actually build 4-10 of these things if it works, and so I need to be confident that I can place this one, most challenging part reliably once I get the boards back.

Any experience with LGA patterns that anyone can share?

Thanks,
-wt

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mick1948
 
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Re: Starting Out in SMT

Post by mick1948 »

On Wed, Feb 14, 2018 at 10:23 AM, mick collins <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi I am having trouble downloading to sound board on my Mac I can download your demo files and play them but it will not play my own files. Is it that I am naming the wrong See attached ( My Files are to6 dog.wav--to5 balls.wav )
Hope you can help
Mick
Attachments
Screen Shot 2018-02-14 at 15.17.51 adafruit.png
Screen Shot 2018-02-14 at 15.17.51 adafruit.png (69.8 KiB) Viewed 1859 times

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