On 2009-05-10 22:24:07 -0600, "Michael A. Terrell"
said:

What? You haven't had the pleasure of hand soldering 0201
resistors? It takes steady hands, .015" solder and a stereo microscope.



Nope. Never hand soldered 0201's. The company I worked for did not
provide stereo magnifiers either. So, I'd place 0402 parts under a 5
diopter lighted magnifier with tweezers and syringe. A bit tedius, but
manageable. Nowadays, 0603 and 0805 components seem gigantic!

Then there's using a modified toaster oven to solder a populated board.
When you are building a one-off prototype, you can do wonders with
minimalist equipment.

Vacuum tubes? Leaded components you can actually hold? What a pleasure!


Joe