http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/tools/b70c/
I was wondering if this would work if applied via a stencil instead of solder paste, carefully placing the chips and allowing the glue to dry overnight.
I imagine a stencilling attempt would just be a sticky mess & the glue would go everywhere.
What’s wrong with solder paste?
I think the price for the same quantity of solder paste is about the same of even cheaper. Do you wish to use the glue to avoid heating your board?
The best example they found for this glue was a led with 2 wires glued to it. I am guessing that glue may not be very appropriate for SMT. It may have a huge impedance or stick more to your stencil and itself than to a pcb. You might even risk to ruin your stencil.
Oh and if it did work, it may be hard to do some rework, replace a component for instance.
I have some - and it is connecting some gold test points to some small wires so I can probe them without soldering them.
The viscosity might be a bit low for a stencil (there is a glob so it might just need mixing and/or some evaporation).
It is brittle so I don’t think rework would be a problem. I should try a few traces on plastic and measure them.
The solder paste route requires quite a few things (Between posting, I’ve found the “hotplate” tutorial). I have a few fears: 1. I have to do 10-50 boards “learning” exactly how to get the 11th/51st right. 2. I need some larger investment or things which require special handling/storage (I’m currently on contract with a tiny fridge). 3. People recommend an aluminum plate to even the heating, so now I have to search surplus metal places.
If I have one or two boards to do, this is a big effort. A few years ago I got everything (actually, I had most) to etch my own boards and it was good, but still a big effort for a few boards.
If I knew I would be doing a few dozen boards over the next year or two I would be out getting a hot-plate now. I may yet do so.
A second problem is I really want to connect something like the ADXL345 onto my fingernail (through an arduino to bluetooth) - I really, really don’t want to make a circuit board which going to be a lot bigger, so I may try wire-glue on it.
Definetly recommend solder paste. If you don’t want to get a stencil, you can try a small syringe, but it is tricky to dispense the right amount. I really recommend a $25 Kapton stencil.
I’ve soldered a lot of boards with a heatgun (the type used for paint stripping). Go slow and carefully, and you should have good results. Try to approximate the temperature profile that is typically recommended in datasheets. The good thing about the heatgun method is that you can apply more heat where it is needed (ie, higher thermal mass components), so in theory you can be less likely to overheat parts.