Ron Hudson Stated: This is not really a problem with surface mount. I thought this would be impossible too - then I built, as my first SMT project, a Nixie tube watch - with "over 45" eyeballs that never worked perfectly. http://juliepalooza.8m.com/sl/nixwatch.htm I invested in only: 1. A GOOD temperature controlled iron ($50) from eBay 2. Good (but not great) tweezers ($5.00) 3. $5.00 set of eye loupes 4. $110.00 - a hot air rework station from eBay (I didn't really need this) 5. Some flux "markers" and some really thin solder Nice things about surface mount are that the parts are really cheap, you can get a lot more stuff on a board (board cost), and the parts can be fairly easily recycled (especially with the rework station). The real problem as I see it is the proliferation of parts. The Digi-Key catalog is like, 10 times the size it was in the 70/80's. Parts come and go very quickly now. And with ASICs, you are at the mercy of the manufacturer. I am concerned that all the TTL in the surplus market now is all that there is-I can't beleive that anyone is making any more. Wire-wrap sockets and quality punched boards are getting very expensive. ===== -Steve Loboyko Incredible wisdom actually found in a commerical fortune cookie: "When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day." Website: http://juliepalooza.8m.com/sl __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Get it on your mobile phone. http://mobile.yahoo.com/maildemo