Michael said:
I have a friend that sells educational electronics kits for hobbyists.
I'm going to try to convince him to make something similar.
He can use my design, but note that the two oscillators tend to lock
together, which defeats the whole point of the circuit.
If you do another run let me know, I'll take a couple off of your
hands.
Ok! Note that I can home-etch PCBs for 0201 and 01005 parts, so if
you just want to try soldering them, buy a couple parts and make a
test board. The lack of a mask doesn't hurt here, the parts are too
small.
Ah - that'll be interesting. So with both pads clean and free of
solder, you place the part and hold it down, then solder both sides?
Yup.
How do you get solder on to it? It seems to me that both of your hands
would be busy. Just put a little on the tip of your iron maybe?
Solder paste. I dab some on the pcb before putting the part on it, so
the paste is between the part and the pad. Heat from the iron just
melts the paste, I don't actually transfer *solder* from the iron to
the part. The iron is usually pretty bare, which also keeps the
solder glob from pulling on the part too.
Even if you pre-solder one of the pads and reheat it, remember that
the heat goes through the part to the other pad too. So, when you do
the second pad, you still need to hold the part down.
