Re: gEDA-user: Re: Soldering irons

[DJ Delorie <dj@delorie.com>]

>    The small stuff is actually the easiest.  I do it by putting a blob 
> of solder on one of the pads, then pick up the part with tweezers, melt 
> the blob, place the component, then solder the other pad.  After you've 
> done a few of them, it really only takes a few seconds.

Even though this was my first time, I still did them in batches.  All
the blobs, all the 1 kohm reflows, all the 39 ohm reflows, all the 182
ohm reflows, all the second pads.  It went quickly.

The part that slows down through soldering is constantly flipping the
board over, and the extra time it takes to heat the through plating,
the larger pin, and to reflow enough solder in.  IIRC I switched to a
larger diameter solder for those.