Should folks building small numbers of circuit boards use surface-mount parts, or should they stick with through-hole components that are so much easier to handle and solder (not to mention see)?

If you are lucky enough to encounter a piece of homebrew electronics from the 1950s, the chances are that under the covers the components will be assembled on solder tags, each component with long ...

What automated soldering methods can be considered for Mini-Circuits surface-mount components? There are two basic methods: reflow and wave soldering. Generally, reflow soldering can be done when (l) ...

For most of us, soldering electronics means soldering on “through hole components,” that are large and easy to handle. However, when machines build components, they use “surface mount components,” ...

Modding today's hardware often means moving or removing tiny surface mount components, and using a standard soldering iron feels about as effective as using a hammer to kill a fly. If buying an ...

One of the first decisions involved in laying out a printed circuit board (PCB) is choosing the type and style of components to be used. This decision is mainly driven by the PCB’s electrical ...

As computers have gotten smaller and less expensive over the years, so have their components. While many of us got our start in the age of through-hole PCBs, this size reduction has led to more and ...

With improvements in technology enhancing people’s lives, electronic products requirements have become greater in terms of being lighter, thinner, smaller, higher performance, and having more ...

When an electronic component is being inspected by an acoustic microscope, ultrasound is pulsed into the part by the scanning transducer. At any material interface within the part, a portion of the ...