I don't see why you wouldn't do as much SMT as possible. There is no
advantage to though-hole stuff that I am aware of. (I welcome
corrections on this point.) You can do hand assembly and rework of
both through-hole and SMT down to (arguably) 0603
components (or maybe even 0402 if you have good eyesight and non-shaky
hands). As for power stuff, lots is availale in SMT versions, so
that's not a consideration. Through-hole stuff is going obsolete
anyway. Finally, SMT stuff lends itself to automated assembly, which
-- in the long run -- will be cheaper.
Ultimately, you should talk to the folks who will stuff your board.
They can offer better advice tailored to your situation than we can
here.
Stuart
I have a design that's very low production quantity(~50 pieces per year)
that has a couple of chips that only come in surface mount versions.
Does
anyone have any opinions on what the lowest cost assembly option is
with the
design, is it better to attempt to do the whole board in SMT with
just a few
components through hole(things like power components) or do you do
the board
mostly through hole except the 2 surface mount chips(noting that one
is 48
pin tqfp). Or do you go with two boards, one with all surface
mount(except
for perhaps the connector between the boards) and then do a second board
with all the through hole components.
We've managed to keep things strictly through hole until this point
in time.
Unfortunately it's no longer viable to go all through hole with new
designs
of any complexity.
I appreciate any opinions.
Thanks