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You can solder 0402 scale stuff with a pair of tweezers, a $20 USB microscope and a regular soldering iron. 4-layer layout is actually easier than 2-layer, it m

You can solder 0402 scale stuff with a pair of tweezers, a $20 USB microscope and a regular soldering iron. 4-layer layout is actually easier than 2-layer, it means less track gymnastics required. This kind of stuff could qualify as 'professional level', a good choice for all kinds of general boards (sure, not smartwatches probably).

DSMan195276 7y ago
For me, the biggest limiting factor is not really skill, but cost. I can theoretically do all of these things, but the cost tends to be prohibitive and the risk too high. 2-layer boards are the best and 4-layer boards are my limit because going any higher just goes way outside the price I can justify putting into hobby projects that may not pan out. 2-layer boards you can sometimes get on sale dirt cheap (ignoring shipping...), and the mark-up when going from 2-layer to 4-layer tends to be at least 2x, and for most places I've looked at more like 4x or higher. The same thing goes for small surface mount stuff. Ex. I was looking at using a TSSOP package for a project, but I just couldn't justify the cost of ~10$ a chip when I was unsure I could even solder it. Even for my last project, I messed up a few boards because I had trouble soldering the leads for the Micro-USB connector on it. On the topic of 0402's, I agree I could probably solder them with enough patience - though that goes back to the risk issue, if I can't then I blew a bunch of money on boards I can't put together. For my projects, I thankfully haven't yet run into a situation where I needed to go that scale, so the lowest I've gone are 0805's, which are nice and chunky. And to be fair, I don't really know what qualifies as "professional level", I'm mostly thinking of things like computer motherboards, phones, smart watches, etc. Tons of things have PCBs in them that don't require that level of detail, and I don't know the percentages of people doing each - perhaps there is a decently sized professional market for a tool that can do smaller boards with less layers/complexity much smoother.
- lukego 7y ago
  > the biggest limiting factor is not really skill, but cost Can we put a number on the cost? Seems to me like if you want a "serious amateur" electronics lab for doing things like prototyping boards with BGA components then you need a budget of around $300 - $1500. Price depends on whether you want cheap-and-cheerful starter kits that will eventually be replaced verses professional stuff that ought to last for decades. On the one hand that's real money but on the other hand that's also what it costs to buy a new laptop or travel to a conference.

DSMan195276 7y ago

For me, the biggest limiting factor is not really skill, but cost. I can theoretically do all of these things, but the cost tends to be prohibitive and the risk too high. 2-layer boards are the best and 4-layer boards are my limit because going any higher just goes way outside the price I can justify putting into hobby projects that may not pan out. 2-layer boards you can sometimes get on sale dirt cheap (ignoring shipping...), and the mark-up when going from 2-layer to 4-layer tends to be at least 2x, and for most places I've looked at more like 4x or higher. The same thing goes for small surface mount stuff. Ex. I was looking at using a TSSOP package for a project, but I just couldn't justify the cost of ~10$ a chip when I was unsure I could even solder it. Even for my last project, I messed up a few boards because I had trouble soldering the leads for the Micro-USB connector on it. On the topic of 0402's, I agree I could probably solder them with enough patience - though that goes back to the risk issue, if I can't then I blew a bunch of money on boards I can't put together. For my projects, I thankfully haven't yet run into a situation where I needed to go that scale, so the lowest I've gone are 0805's, which are nice and chunky. And to be fair, I don't really know what qualifies as "professional level", I'm mostly thinking of things like computer motherboards, phones, smart watches, etc. Tons of things have PCBs in them that don't require that level of detail, and I don't know the percentages of people doing each - perhaps there is a decently sized professional market for a tool that can do smaller boards with less layers/complexity much smoother.

lukego 7y ago
> the biggest limiting factor is not really skill, but cost Can we put a number on the cost? Seems to me like if you want a "serious amateur" electronics lab for doing things like prototyping boards with BGA components then you need a budget of around $300 - $1500. Price depends on whether you want cheap-and-cheerful starter kits that will eventually be replaced verses professional stuff that ought to last for decades. On the one hand that's real money but on the other hand that's also what it costs to buy a new laptop or travel to a conference.