now OT: Re:PCB tools for Linux (was Whenceforth the Ubuntu fanboyz now?)

[Interlug Lists]

On 2/13/07, tleslie <tleslie-RBVUpeUoHUc at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>
> Speaking of PCB,
> what is the finest pin pitch (or one can list pacakge)
> that one has been able to sucessfully place and solder on a PCB
> without resorting to a automated expensive sol'n but rather
> a tech that is hobbyist  based, i.e. soldering iron, oven, etc?


I've done SOIC with a hand-held iron.  That's 0.05" pitch.  Much more than
one chip per board makes it trickier; the previous chip seems to block where
the soldering iron needs to go for the next chip.

I know one can ship this stuff out pretty economically but I am
> intetrested in a lot of home tooling around with many pcb's,
> so i am thinking of getting a home milling machine (modified roland)
> that can do .01" traces and spaces, and assuming it does a good job,
> then placement and soldering is my only worry.


0.01" traces and spaces are fun, but you'll want solder mask.  Really.  The
combination of hand soldering small pitch devices and lack of solder mask is
an unhappy recipe.

With a home made board you'll have more trouble with registration between
sides and through hole connections than minimum trace width.

Any real life experiences? mail me off list if like, I am interested in
> anyone experiences.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gtalug.org/pipermail/legacy/attachments/20070221/caf81ca1/attachment.html>