Workshops/smd stencil vputz

SMD Stenciling with vputz

This is a (roughly) three-hour workshop on SMD Stencil Reflow soldering. SMD devices can often be soldered by hand, but reflow soldering with stencil paste is faster and easier when you can apply the paste quickly and accurately using a stencil.

The focus of this workshop is small batches -- larger than one-off prototypes which can either be soldered by hand or by manual application of paste, but smaller than multipanel boards using expensive metal stencils and an aluminum fixture and a nice reflow oven.

Instead, we'll use cheap laser-cut PET stencils held with electrical tape to bodged-together jigs made of cutting boards and perfboard--then cook them on a cheap hot plate. Plan on cursing a bit, swearing at whoever designed micro-USB connectors, and eventually building an Orbotron 9000:

Begun as a "scratch your own itch" project, this is an Arduino-compatible "hardware driver" for the SpaceTec SpaceOrb 360 (and some of its variants), turning an old RS-232 device into a modern hot-pluggable USB HID controller. With a little programming, it could probably work for a lot of old devices, so while it's a niche device, it's fun! The workshop itself is free; If you want to keep the one you make, you can have it for around cost (GBP 20); otherwise, I'll gladly take the built ones for inventory.

What to Bring

Yourself! I will supply kits, stencils, paste, hot plate (controlled by the Kettletron 9000), USB Microscope, pogopin programmer, and tweezers. If we need to do rework (and we will need to do rework) we will use the hackspace's tools as necessary.

How long to expect

My guess is about three hours, much of which will be spent cursing the micro-USB connector.

Handout

I'll bring handouts to class, but if you wish a copy for yourself, the PDF is available here: Media:smd_workshop_vputz_handout_flippy.pdf

Signups

7 Jul 2013, 2pm

Add names here!