Guides / Assembly
Hand-soldering SMD: tools and technique
You don't need a pick-and-place to build SMD — the right iron, flux and technique go a long way.
Plenty of SMD gets built by hand. With a decent iron, flux and steady technique, everything from 0603 chips to fine-pitch QFPs is doable on the bench — only leadless parts really force reflow.
The kit
- ·A temperature-controlled iron with a fine tip and a small chisel tip
- ·Flux — the single biggest upgrade to your joints
- ·Fine solder (0.4–0.5 mm), good tweezers, and light with magnification
- ·Solder wick and hot air for rework
Two-terminal chips
Tin one pad, place the part with tweezers while reheating that pad, then solder the other end. 0603 and 0805 are easy; 0402 takes practice; 0201 and smaller really want a machine.
Leaded ICs
For SOIC and QFP, tack one corner pin, align, tack the opposite corner, then drag-solder each side with plenty of flux and wick off any bridges.
When to switch to reflow
QFN, DFN and BGA hide their pads, so they need reflow or hot air. Every package page lists a hand-solder difficulty to set expectations.
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