Surface Mount Technology is not a new thing. Eventually it’ll be the only thing because new MOSFETS, chips, and computer-on-modules are pretty much all SMT. If you’ve never 
soldered SMT parts, you might be surprised at how easy it can be. In fairness, parts below a certain size can be challenging to solder, but with practice you can start big and go smaller and smaller as you get better. But where to start? At NERP on Monday, June 19th Drew Fustini will give a gentle introduction to SMT soldering.
Drew will be building Nick Sayer’s I can reflow! Badge and showing the MakersBox [Ken Olsen] SMD Challenge board, also called the Unfortunate board because the 0201 resistor and LED will unfortunately make you nuts trying to solder them. The boards were made by OSH Park, a commercial prototype and open source hardware board house. They have a huge catalog of boards designated as shared projects by their customers. You can buy those boards, or design your own in KiCAD or Eagle, and share them if you like.
Drew has a few extra reflow Badge boards if anyone wants to follow along. We’ll try to get enough parts together to fill the boards. Those parts are:
- Q1 & Q2 – MMBT3904
- R1 & R2 – 0805 100Ω
- R3 & R4 – 0805 100kΩ
- C1 & C2 – 0805 10µF
And two 0805 LEDs and a CR1220 battery clip.
Schematic diagram in Hackaday’s coverage of the I Can Reflow Merit Badge
NERP is not exclusively Raspberry Pi, the small computer and embedded systems interest group at Pumping Station:One in Chicago. NERP meets every other Monday at 7pm at Pumping Station:One, 3519 N. Elston Ave. in Chicago. Find NERP and Pumping Station:One at
www.meetup.com/NERP-Not-Exclusively-Raspberry-Pi/
and
https://pumpingstationone.org/
