Congratulations to Skip VK2ALR and others responsible for organising the recent workshop on SMD soldering held at the Rose Bay RSL Club on 3rd December 2022.
At least 15 members and visitors took part in the very hands on training. We had access to every possible way to solder surface mount devices from soldering irons and hot air rework stations to reflow ovens. Devices varied from the truly microscopic 0402 resistors and tiny transistor packages in the SOT-1061 format to components you could actually see.
The first part of the workshop involved getting accustomed to soldering a range of components onto specially prepared PCBs and learning how to comprehensively check our work.
Then we all started work on the second project, a 555 controlled blinking Christmas light circuit using the same devices with a SOIC-8 555 IC and some through hole LEDs.
The workshop was the perfect way to take the terror out of these devices and to demonstrate how to apply the paste and the components.
I especially enjoyed discovering how easy it was to use the reflow oven and the other tools.
It was apparent Skip had put considerable effort and resources into planning the workshop and preparing all the materials and components we used. And the flashing LEDs at the end were a signal of the workshop’s success.
Postscript: Given the success of this event, it’s possible future Saturday club workshops might feature topics such as PCB design, layout software, and fabrication of boards for surface and hybrid mounting, and Debugging, Troubleshooting, and Modifying surface-mounted boards.
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