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Drilled solder paste stencils

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op...@hotmail.com

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Oct 24, 2006, 12:10:32 PM10/24/06
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Guys, if you're like me and find soldering SMDs to be a royal PITA and
with the cost of laser cut stencils through the roof, then here's a tip
to drill your own stencils. You'll probably need a CNC drill/mill
though. Some after "pasting" and after "baking" shots are at the link
below. Just click on slideshow in the upper right hand corner.

http://www.pbase.com/eldata/stencils&page=all

J.A. Legris

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Oct 24, 2006, 9:12:35 PM10/24/06
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Very nice. I tried this once on a CNC machine, but instead of drilling,
I used a fine drill rod to punch the holes in Lexan sheet. It worked
well enough, but your holes and the printed paste look better than
mine. How did you finish the holes so nicely? No burrs at all.

--
Joe Legris

op...@hotmail.com

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Oct 24, 2006, 9:20:04 PM10/24/06
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>How did you finish the holes so nicely? No burrs at all.

Sanding.....Medium grit then fine.

Joe Pfeiffer

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Oct 25, 2006, 12:40:04 AM10/25/06
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op...@hotmail.com writes:

Call me stupid, but I'm missing the key "how to do it" part. Looks
like a stencil was cut, and then somhow solder wound up on the
boards. How was that done? I'm really curious to see how, since this
process looks really good in the pictures, and the best you could say
about my SMD soldering is that the solder joints tend to hold...
mostly...
--
Joseph J. Pfeiffer, Jr., Ph.D. Phone -- (505) 646-1605
Department of Computer Science FAX -- (505) 646-1002
New Mexico State University http://www.cs.nmsu.edu/~pfeiffer

Sir Charles W. Shults III

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Oct 25, 2006, 8:35:01 AM10/25/06
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"Joe Pfeiffer" <pfei...@cs.nmsu.edu> wrote in message
news:1bpscha...@viper.cs.nmsu.edu...

> op...@hotmail.com writes:
> Call me stupid, but I'm missing the key "how to do it" part. Looks
> like a stencil was cut, and then somhow solder wound up on the
> boards. How was that done?

Looks like once the stencil is cut, you just swipe some paste over it
and it deposits through the holes. So I would guess that you lay the
stencil over the board and use a small squeegee. This would be almost
identical to silk screening.

Cheers!

Sir Charles W. Shults II, K.B.B.
Xenotech Research
321-206-1840


op...@hotmail.com

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Oct 25, 2006, 12:16:55 PM10/25/06
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>How was that done?

You align the stencil with the board/pads, hold it in place, dab solder
paste on the stencil then using either a rubber squeegee or flexible
plastic putty knife you ensure all the cutouts (holes in this case) are
filled flush with the stencil. Agreed, I could have taken more pictures
but just assumed this to be a well publicized no-brainer step. Here are
some links (BTW, it doesn't have to be as messy);

http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorial/SMD_Printing/SMD_Printing.htm

http://www.stencilsunlimited.com/

Joe Pfeiffer

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Oct 25, 2006, 1:15:05 PM10/25/06
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op...@hotmail.com writes:

> >How was that done?
>
> You align the stencil with the board/pads, hold it in place, dab solder
> paste on the stencil then using either a rubber squeegee or flexible
> plastic putty knife you ensure all the cutouts (holes in this case) are
> filled flush with the stencil. Agreed, I could have taken more pictures
> but just assumed this to be a well publicized no-brainer step. Here are
> some links (BTW, it doesn't have to be as messy);

Ah ha. Definitely in the "now that I know the answer, it was obvious
enough I should have realised it" category.

Ringo

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Oct 25, 2006, 5:13:57 PM10/25/06
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But how do you get the pad coordinates so you know where to drill the
holes? Is there and easy way to extract it from gerber files?
Ringo

Matthias Melcher

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Oct 26, 2006, 3:15:29 AM10/26/06
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op...@hotmail.com wrote:
> http://www.pbase.com/eldata/stencils&page=all

Awesome work. The stencils always kept me from entering the SMD age, but
this may actually be the solution. Thanks for posting this!

What material did you use for the stencil?

Now if I could get my CNC machine to position the parts... . ;-)

Matthias

op...@hotmail.com

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Oct 26, 2006, 10:46:02 AM10/26/06
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>But how do you get the pad coordinates so you know where to drill the
>holes?

I can only speak for Eagle. There is a file "smd-coordinate.ulp" in the
ULP folder that ouputs x-y coordinates of SMD pad centers. Since CNC
solder paste dispensing machines are still around, I suspect most PCB
CAD software provides some means to extract this info.

op...@hotmail.com

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Oct 26, 2006, 10:51:12 AM10/26/06
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> What material did you use for the stencil?

Google >"solder paste stencils"<

Joe Pfeiffer

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Oct 26, 2006, 12:46:27 PM10/26/06
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op...@hotmail.com writes:

> > What material did you use for the stencil?
>
> Google >"solder paste stencils"<

Having just googled, here's a good site on the subject that I found:

http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorial/SMD_Printing/SMD_Printing.htm

Lots of *really* good information there.

And to think the half-dozen SMD parts I've soldered have all been by
hand...

Ringo

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Oct 26, 2006, 1:11:28 PM10/26/06
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Cool, I use eagle, so I'll have to give it a try. I currently get
Stencils made a Pololu for about $40, but this would be great for times
swhen you can't wait a week to get them.
Thanks

Matthias Melcher

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Oct 27, 2006, 2:56:15 AM10/27/06
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Joe Pfeiffer wrote:
> op...@hotmail.com writes:
>
> Having just googled, here's a good site on the subject that I found:
>
> http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorial/SMD_Printing/SMD_Printing.htm
>
> Lots of *really* good information there.

Awesome. I alreaddy decided for my first SMD project. I can finnaly get
my FTDI mounted and the USB-to-serial converter going ;-)

(Yes, I know, I can also solder that one by hand)

Matthias

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