[GreenKeys] Who's still looking at getting John Nagle's USB<->CL Board made ?

[Bob kb8tq]

Hi

Take a look at some videos of plastic stencils for the solder side of the process. That plus
a modified toaster oven makes it even easier……

Bob

> On Mar 5, 2018, at 3:54 PM, Ralph Mowery <rmowery28146 at earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
> I am maybe one of the younger ones on greenkeys at 67. 
>  
> About 2 years ago I decided to get with  the SMD as almost everything is going that way.  It did require me to spend about $ 300 .  Just under $ 200 went to a stereo microscope from Amscope.  Then around $ 60 for one of the inexpensive hot air rework stations from ebay that has a hot air wand and small soldering iron.  I doubt this would hold up for very heavy use, but ok for what little I do.  Then a few tweezers and fine solder and solder paste.  After looking on youtube  for some videos of the SMD soldering and practicing on old computer boards, I found it not too difficult.  For now I really would use SMD for small projects if someone has a PC board for them.  Everything is usually on just one side of the board.  A couple of years ago I did not feel this way, but the microscope and other tools made a believer out of me.
>  
> The biggest thing I ever did from just a schematic was an ST-6 from an article in Ham Radio magazine.  Most of the things I did was just one to 3 transistors or ICs, or years ago one to 3 tubes.  Much of my work was just repairing older ham gear.
>  
> It does seem that the through hole parts are getting more difficult to come by if they involve the ICs.
> Just as tubes are becoming more difficult to find and expensive  compared to what they were years ago.
>  
> De 
> Ralph
>  
> KU4PT
>  
> From: greenkeys-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:greenkeys-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of drlegendre .
> Sent: Monday, March 05, 2018 1:06 PM
> To: Pete Lancashire
> Cc: GreenKeys at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] Who's still looking at getting John Nagle's USB<->CL Board made ?
>  
> Now beggars can't be choosers and all that, but I don't get why John elects to design these circuits with SMD parts, knowing that the primary user base will be a group of DIYer's.
>  
> Can you work with SMD parts? I can't. I mean to say, I might be capable to some degree, but sheesh - why?! Are the required parts simply not available in legacy form-factors or something?
>  
> Normally I'd be all over this, but the SMD requirement just takes all the wind from my sails. So what's the deal? For the record, I built one of his earlier designs (RS-232 -to- 120V / 60mA) on perfboard with some parts chassis mounted, and that all went just fine. 
>  
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