Eyestrain – 0603 and 0805 parts

I have been doing some surface mount work for a friend. For those that have not seen SMD parts, open up any modern piece of machinery. Look at the circuit board, and find the smallest parts on the circuit board. Those are the things that I have been soldering by hand. Right now I am rather tired from working on them last night. I think I gave myself eyestrain.

Some of the parts are shown on this site about0603, 0606, & 0805 Profile Surface Mount SurfLED� LEDs. Common parts are 0603. That is 0.06″ x 0.03″. This is TOO small. The latest issue of Circuit Cellar as an article on building a solder oven for under $1. Looks like a wise investment.

Overengineered Devices

I got a return on a mobile data terminal from a client that I have lent the unit to. He hooked up an external modem backwards. I mean the power backwards. I have opened up the unit and found some blown fusable links. So far I found about 30 or more. That really is just a guess. Not sure how many really – Just a lot.

The equipment now needs to be returned to Israel for repair. Oops.