[Elecraft] OT: SMT kits?

[Mike Morrow]

I wrote:

>> SMT construction is specifically designed *only*  for machine
>> assembly.  IMO, any SMT kit must come with almost all the SMT 
>> components pre-assembled to the PC boards to be acceptable.

To which Blake responded:

>Misinformation.  

The fact that some humans can manage to assemble some SMT components with varying degrees of inconvenience does *not* alter the fact that SMT component packages *are* designed first and foremost to facilitate machine assembly.  No designer of an SMT component package ever sat down and added "ease of human manual assembly" to the list of design criteria he had to meet.

The second sentence began with "IMO" ("in my opinion").  An opinion expressing personal preference is not "misinformation."  It *is* a fact that a manually assembled SMT kit is unacceptable to me (and many many other likely kit builders).

> I like SMT much better...  No board flipping and lead clipping.

I'll accept that as a statement of personal preference.  Otherwise I might make the same mistake and write "Misinformation!"

73
Mike / KK5F