partial P112 kits

On 6/22/2010 11:14 AM, Dave McGuire wrote: It's really not the same as having someone show you. There's a big difference between being taught in-person in an interactive manner and having some shaky low-res video one-way instruction on youtube. Yes, there's scads of advice. That's part of the problem. Everyone says something different, there's no consensus and this leads to confusion and frustration for average joe. Since this BS was dumped in my lap originally, let me respond. First, I think your assumption that my (our?) reasons for not liking/not being good at SMT stuff is simply a knee-jerk reaction is unfair. Since you are Mr. helpful, instead of trying to inflame the situation, why not simply ask what the issues are? Try posting some valuable links. Or some encouraging remarks. No, we get, "BULLSHIT", "you don't need expensive tools", "your eyesight doesn't matter." and attacked. On one hand we hear "wrong tools", and in the next we hear that almost any soldering iron will work. As A. Christoff Baumann pointed out, it's great that you've found it easy. Fantastic. I'm happy for you. For the rest of us mortals, these things are hard --- and yes, I've tried and my experience wasn't great. It was an 8-pin SOIC memory chip. I was soldering onto a surfboard. It worked, actually the first time, but I found it pretty tricky and the pitch was HUGE by any standard. When I look at these other chips with tens of pins -> hundreds of pins, I'm intimidated. They are ridiculously close together, and my soldering iron tip looks pretty big next to it. I almost NEVER have a need to do SMT. So not only do I not have a need to practice --- the return on investment is low. Why spend so much time practicing when there are clearly other better/faster/easier methods of obtaining the same (or better) result? Especially when I need a result every couple years? Many people who have already obtained a skill love to claim that what they do is "easy." It makes them look like gods in the eyes of the uninitiated. I'm a pool player. 9-ball is my game. I can break and run a rack of 9-ball on a pretty regular basis. Is it hard? For me? Not really. I do it all the time. How many other people in this forum can do this? I think most people would consider it a "hard task." My 17 years as a player helps this "hard task" become and look "easy." Ok, sure, this is computer forum, but do you see the analogy? Dave: how about a little perspective here? Really? Was that your motivation this time? How about giving us a break? Keith