My first surface mount build was an RXTX and I used small solder and a very fine tip.? My second surface mount build was the RX II.? I got the solder paste from KD5SSJ and a Mr. Coffee cup warmer from Wal-Mart to pre-heat the board and a Martha Stewart heat embossing tool from the Hobby store.? I was not going to build the LF version so I marked the parts not used and put a small dap of paste on all the pads used.? I then mounted all the parts, there are not that many parts.? set the board on an aluminum spacer on the cup warmer, plugged it in and waited about 25 minutes until it got to about 85 degrees C.? I then started the heat tool and held it about 4-6 inches above the board and slowly moved it around and around and then started to slowly move it closer watching for the paste to melt.? When the paste melted it turned very shiny and all the parts centered themselves on the pads, amazing.? I then slowly moved the heat away while still moving it around then I turned off the cup warmer and let it sit for about 30 minutes.? Probably took less than 2 hours including the cool down.? If you use a method like this I would only do the heating ONCE as it is not very well controlled heat.? If you have a nice temperature controlled programmed heat oven then maybe heating several times would be OK.? But with so few parts to install I don’t see the reason for breaking up the assembly of the surface mount parts.? I am 72 and it was my first surface mount assembly, although I do design and build a lot of electronics.

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Mike? W6MXV