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Building the mouse Logitech won't make

(samwilkinson.io)
450 points sammycdubs | 1 comments | 25 Aug 25 15:34 UTC | HN request time: 0.201s | source
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stn8188 ◴[25 Aug 25 16:06 UTC] No.45015355[source]▶
"Balking at the $50+ charge for turnkey assembly, I opted to take the financially responsible route and pay $200+ for a hot-air rework station to solder it myself."

Yeah, I feel this :)

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frankus ◴[25 Aug 25 16:40 UTC] No.45015764[source]▶
For just straight up assembly of one-sided SMT boards (i.e. not reclaiming components from a donor board), a $30 plug-in electric skillet and a solder paste stencil from the PCB manufacturer (or patience and a solder paste syringe) works far better than it has any right to. https://www.instructables.com/Simple-Skillet-Surface-mount-S...
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1. brokenmachine ◴[26 Aug 25 06:37 UTC] No.45023035[source]▶
On aliexpress, search for "demolition heating" and there are really cheap ($5 or so?) heating plates that I believe are used for removing SMD LEDs.

Not sure why they'd need to remove SMD LEDs, but whatever.

They are "PTC" which means they top out at a certain temperature, usually 260 degrees.

I would recommend using an inline fuse holder for some semblance of safety though.

One of these, a lamp cord, some solder paste and a toothpick, and you can easily assemble SMD boards.