Soldering/Homebrewing using surface MOUNT components ..ie chip capacitors..

[John Miles]

earl...@igs.net wrote:
>
> I bought some chip capacitors in the bargain bin at the electronics
> store..Im wondering how an amateur homebrewer could use them..they
> are good RF Values ie 150 pf 330 pf and rated at 50 volts BUT they
> are very small of course! Any recommendations? I might think of trying
> my 25 watt soldering iron with a delicate approach. Im thinking of
> using these little guys in a rcvr front end filter project with small
> torroids to make a small ..compact unit...73 Earl VE3AB

If you use PC boards, there's nothing special you need to do -- just
solder the cap down one end at a time, perhaps holding it in place with
a toothpick. Otherwise, if you're not mounting them flat on a board,
the thing to remember is that their ability to withstand force applied
to their terminals is absolutely ZERO. Once you solder a chip cap into
a circuit using dead-bug construction, you've got to be careful not to
bend the leads attached to it at all.

Use a clean, hot iron with a small tip when hand-soldering these
puppies.

-- jm

------------------------------------------------------
http://www.qsl.net/ke5fx
Note: My E-mail address has been altered to avoid spam
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[earl...@igs.net]

[David Knaack(spam blocked email)]

John Miles <jmi...@pop.removethistomailme.net> wrote in message
news:38A75D...@pop.removethistomailme.net...

> earl...@igs.net wrote:
> >
> > I bought some chip capacitors in the bargain bin at the electronics
> > store..Im wondering how an amateur homebrewer could use them.
>

> Use a clean, hot iron with a small tip when hand-soldering these
> puppies.

I've found that applying flux to the surfaces makes mounting
SMT components much easier. The flux in the solder just doesn't
help much.

DK

[Jim Pennell]

I've had good luck using perf board... Get the 1/10 inch centers with
copper donuts around each hole.

I find them at Radio Shack for a reasonable price.

If you position the surface mount resistor, or capacitor carefully, you
can solder it to seperate donut pads.

This is very convenient in that I can then add another surface mount part
from that same pad to another one to build up the circuit.

Or, insert a through hole IC from the non-copper side, and use small gauge
bus wire to connect the pins of the IC to the surface mount part next to it.

The net effect is, an easy semi "PCBOARD" prototype with the bus wire
serving as trace connections between the surface mount parts.

All in all, I find it just about as easy as a through hole prototype, and
a heck of a lot smaller finished product !!!

True, I do have to spend some time working out an approximate parts
placement, before assembly, but it is fast and allows using the small
surface mount parts even in a one off breadboard.

Jim Pennell

jpennell

at ix dot netcom dot com

[Constantine]

In article <38A75D...@pop.removethistomailme.net>,

jmi...@pop.removethistomailme.net wrote:
> earl...@igs.net wrote:
> >
> > I bought some chip capacitors in the bargain bin at the electronics

> > store..Im wondering how an amateur homebrewer could use them..they
> > are good RF Values ie 150 pf 330 pf and rated at 50 volts BUT they
> > are very small of course! Any recommendations? I might think of
trying
> > my 25 watt soldering iron with a delicate approach. Im thinking of
> > using these little guys in a rcvr front end filter project with
small
> > torroids to make a small ..compact unit...73 Earl VE3AB
>

> If you use PC boards, there's nothing special you need to do -- just
> solder the cap down one end at a time, perhaps holding it in place
with
> a toothpick. Otherwise, if you're not mounting them flat on a board,
> the thing to remember is that their ability to withstand force applied
> to their terminals is absolutely ZERO. Once you solder a chip cap
into
> a circuit using dead-bug construction, you've got to be careful not to
> bend the leads attached to it at all.
>

> Use a clean, hot iron with a small tip when hand-soldering these
> puppies.

Instead of holding it down with a toothpick, stick it on a piece of
transparent tape, this way you can't loose it.
Don't wory about burning the tape with the iron, the chip cap will stay
on the tape even if you burn close to it.
73 WA1WLA

>
> -- jm
>
> ------------------------------------------------------
> http://www.qsl.net/ke5fx
> Note: My E-mail address has been altered to avoid spam
> ------------------------------------------------------
>

-- e

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