Some random hints for quick hand SMD assembly
Why Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange recommends it
Electronics Stack Exchange answerers point people to it when asked how to organise, feed and pick up SMD parts during hand assembly.
Recommended by 2 people across 2 different months, 2014 to 2019.
What it is
A 2011 video from Mike of the mikeselectricstuff channel sharing practical tips for assembling surface-mount boards by hand. It covers how to handle and organise SMD parts, including taping component strips to the bench, and the tools he uses to place them quickly.
What people said
Recommends Szymon Bęczkowski · 2014-09 · Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange · on “How can one organize SMT parts prior to/during PCB assembly?”
You can use rotating bins: For smaller quantities you can use double sided tape and stick the component tape to the bench. Mike from mikeselectricstuff Youtube channel has a nice video showing this technique: Some random hints for quick hand SMD assembly [this video] . As for the tools you can use a vacuum pickup tool. They come either as a hand operated pump (small button you press/depress to operate) or with external vacuum pump. They have various tips to fit the component.
Recommends Wesley Lee · 2019-06 · Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange · on “Ways to get SMD resistors from a strip”
You should try vacuum tweezers. They are a bit varied, there are some super cheap ones and others more sophisticated: Cheapest option, which I dont recommend. When you press or release the vacuum pump the tweezer moves, which makes placing parts precisely a bit harder. [LINK] There are some automated versions, some come with a pedal for instance where you can enable or disable the vacuum. (the image is illustrative, I don't know which features it has) [LINK] Some of them have a metal arm which you can use to help place the parts even more precisely. This is a "cheap" one from Tindie, but there are some that are a lot more rigid and expensive (didn't find a picture when writing the answer). [
Cites Anton · 2016-01 · Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange · on “Preparing solder paste for syringe-style dispenser”
While some have recommended the use a stencil over dispending paste, there are certain trade-offs where your system will be faster (and cheaper... although stencils are very cheap depending on the complexity) than ordering and applying a stencil. For example: no extremely fine pitch components a stencil usually requires cleaning and set up times that can be avoided by simply dispensing paste onto a handful of boards Before I answer your questions... you said: adding a little isopropyl alcohol helps soften it enough to work "good enough" with this system I use isopropyl alcohol to clean flux from my PCBs. I've never heard of anyone mixing it with their solder paste. I wonder if there will be