Assembling a PCB Without a Soldering Iron! | MOT13 

Oh my! Wish you'd asked me first (of course, how'd you know). Here's a link to the stencil shop I've used with success and specifically to their laser cut prototype stencils: www.stencilsunlimited.com/prototype-smt-stencils-p-28.html?osCsid=064hmq3ki6c1nvd3kprjouamt6 Some things... 1) I find that the frame-less without the fold tabs work the best as they come with metal squeegee (better) and 'board holders' (which are 2 nylon corner squares that you tape down to a work surface (I use a 1'x1' cut piece of old thin plywood) up tight to the corners of your first PCB. Then position your stencil, and tape one edge (several layers of tape to improve repeatability) so you can hinge it up and pop the first board out after applying solder paste and place the next between the holers. 2) You must squeegee the paste with your blade closer to vertical so as not to force the paste through your openings squishing it out under the stencil past your PCB's pads. Also, the stencil is chosen to have a thickness to leave that thickness of paste on your PCB's pads. This means you need to press the squeegee hard against your stencil to leave paste only on the pads of the PCB through the openings. I've often used a moderate angle on the blade and medium pressure on one pass and then made a second pass with the blade at nearer 90 degrees to the surface of the stencil to remove all excess. Don't leave paste between the stencil openings. The board I just watched you paste will have more pad to pad solder bridges, 'tomb-stoned' passives and excess solder issues than you can shake a stick at. I'd be happy to make a video or take some photos to send of my set up and techniqe. I've been using this technique since 2004 or 2005. :)

I am impressed by your steady hand when placing the components. Nice work Ryan.

This will absolutely not be something I add to my endless list of hobbies 😅, impressive work though 😁

Generally, you add a pcb's on each side of the board you're populating to keep the stencil level. When the stencil lifted up, you ended up with too much paste on the board. resulting in issues while reflowing.

Hand soldering tip: buy yourself a small chisel tip. Makes reworking small package ICs and discretes far easier. If you can justify the cost, some magnification goes a long way at improving your ability to solder joints consistently.

Nice work! Would you be curious about testing Pin-in-paste assembly for the through-hole components? It's ust something I was taking a look at recently.

You should wipe the stencil with alcohol