I'm new to the process of SMT soldering. I've successfully soldered a few boards using a toaster oven following the process outlined in Felix's video: DIY manual SMT pick and place tool for $20.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhavXauuWqY
(Thanks Felix!!!)
I'm now ready to add a transceiver to the bottom layer but I'm not sure how to accomplish this task. (I'd like to avoid hand soldering using an iron if possible.)
Any tips on soldering SMD components to the bottom layer?
Anyone using a single reflow process, meaning do you reflow the top and bottom components at the same time?
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Have you considered using a hot air pencil?
You will need to solder it manually, with a soldering iron. I would not really recommend reflow or hot air for this or you could damage the transceiver or the atmega MCU or other parts. Even if that won't happen, double sided reflow is done by first gluing the parts on one side so they don't fall off during reflow. That's expensive and not easy to achieve in a DIY manner.
Manual is the easy way for what you need to do.
I cannot imagine how one would want to get into electronics by reflowing everything :), manual soldering with an iron is necessary skill and very easy to learn.
I've been soldering with an iron for many years ;) but when I saw the "magic" happen at the reflow stage I was ready to retire my iron (at least for working with SMD componets) :D
Thanks for the feedback, I'll stick to the manual method.