SMD workstation question

[capacitorless]

I'm older and while I thankfully don't have anything like Parkinson's, sometimes I don't have the super steady hands that I had when I was younger. Especially after coffee. So, I'm looking for ways to assist SMD work. One, of course, is a good magnification setup.

Is there some kind of device that would translate larger movements into finer ones, and/or support SMD devices while being placed on a circuit board?

It could be as simple as a squeeze-to-release tweezer mounted on a flexible wand, or more elaborate like a robotic device thingy. I just haven't run across such a thing myself, so far. I've got a PanaVise, just looking for something more precise and more reliable than my hand.

 

[JohnRoberts]

What you are thinking of is a pantograph placement mechanism. I can't say that I've ever seen or heard of one, but that's what it would be called. Might be easier to program up an X-Y robot arm.

One good thing about SMD is that the parts are so small that surface tension will often self-align components onto the pads after heating them up hot enough to melt the solder, when placed roughly in the ball park.

JR

 

[capacitorless]

Since I'm brand new to SMD (both building new boards and doing rework) that's great to know.

I should practice some and revisit this idea afterwards. It might simply be more trouble than it's worth.

 

[Philbo King]

I used to hand solder parts as small as 005010 (5/1000" x 10/1000"). It required a 40x power zoomable microscope, high precision tweezers ($75 & up) and abstaining from coffee.

Hint: Buy more parts than you need; if the part slips from your tweezers you'll never see it again. These were about the size of table salt grains.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I used to hand solder parts as small as 005010 (5/1000" x 10/1000"). It required a 40x power zoomable microscope, high precision tweezers ($75 & up) and abstaining from coffee.

I never saw or messed with parts that small. FWIW for high performance audio circuits extremely small SMD parts can exhibit compromises.

Hint: Buy more parts than you need; if the part slips from your tweezers you'll never see it again. These were about the size of table salt grains.

Yup, even parts 10x that do not often come back if dropped.

JR

 

[jp8]

A few more tips & tricks:

Using a stereo microscope gives you better visual feedback and will stabilize your movements. I use an Eakins stereo microscope from Aliexpress. Excellent value for money! Also buy an 0.5x and an 0.7x barlow lense to increase the working distance between lense and object and allow space for soldering.

I have a set of self-closing tweezers with ceramic tips. You can use them to stabilize the PCBA or to hold parts. They will nicely hold 0805 and bigger SMTs. Thanks to being self-closing, your fingers and hand are occupied with positioning the part, not with squeezing and holding it at the same.

I also obtained a pair of tweezers with tips roughened on the inside. Perfect for the bigger SMTs.

Use a solder iron that heats up fast and maintains a stable tip temperature. The shorter the time you need to make a good solder joint, the less the odds that the parts get misaligned or being catapulted during the soldering process. Best in market IMHO are JBC solder irons. They heat up from standby temperature to melting temperature in less than a second (!). They are amazing! Just a bit expensive... Alternatively, buy a JBC clone from Aliexpress, and buy some original JBC tips. The clone stations do not heat up the tip as fast as a real JBC, but it's usable. The clone tips die early. I had 6 clone tips, 3 of which already broke down after several times of use. None of my 10 or so JBC tips ever failed.

Even better than having one JBC iron is having two. Fit one with a small diameter tip (0.3 - 0.5mm) tip for SMT soldering and the other with an angled tip for through-hole parts and to lift SMTs by sholding the part to desolder between the two tips. No need for a horribly expensive tweezer iron and it's more versatile, as you can change the tip to what works best to desolder the part involved.

Jan