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)?

Surface-mount technology has been a fantastic force multiplier for electronics in general and for hobbyists in particular. But sometimes you’ve got no choice but to use through-hole components, ...

Soldering is an art. With practice, one can learn to easily assemble complex circuit boards with small-pitch SMD chips. Along the way, you learn several “tricks of the trade”: techniques that are not ...

The different types of PCB assembly methods like surface mount, through-hole, and mixed assembly. How these PCB assembly processes differ from each other. The performance of a printed circuit board ...

For a lot of us, soldering just seems to come naturally. But if we’re being honest, none of us was born with a soldering iron in our hand — ouch! — and if we’re good at soldering now, it’s only thanks ...

A new type of solder can be melted and shaped in three dimensions under the force of a weak magnetic field. Using a magnet to pull the solder up through narrow holes makes it possible to create ...

What have your results been like for full assembly? I'm really terrible at microelectronics, and I've only ever managed to solder through hole components for minor things like composite video mods. So ...