pmillett
Pete Millet
Sponsor: TTVJ/Apex Hi-Fi
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2002
- Posts
- 212
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- 56
I myself wouldn't mind a SMD-variant either...
SMD soldering isn't that hard once you get the hang of it unless you go for REALLY tiny 0201 or such, and the boards usually looks really nice (to me at least).
0603 package and up isn't that hard to do manually imho.
(and I do mean imperial sizes, 0603 metric I have never tried :rolleyes: )
The problem is that parts like the MP7770 have an exposed pad on the back side that is used as the heat sink. It has to be soldered down to a ground plane, and soldered well, or the part will overheat. So normally that requires reflow, either with an oven or rework tool (a fancy heat gun).
It is possible to put a big through hole pad there and fill it with solder from the back of the PCB... it's a little kludgey, but I have done it that way.
The pin pitch is also pretty fine for somebody without a lot of SMD soldering experience.
Pete