Stuffing boards with pulled QFP chips

[John Wilson]

On Sat, Apr 01, 2017 at 09:27:47PM -0700, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
>What do you do about boards with SMT components on *both* sides?  I
>can't see how it would work with a toaster oven.

I have much less experience than Jon Elson but I've tried it a few times
and my results agree with his:  surface tension does the trick.  I cook it
once with the solder side up and put on the decoupling caps (all I've ever
had on the flip side -- some chips need dozens and it's the only way to fit
them all), then flip it and perch the edges of the board on two pieces of
tiny aluminum tubing from a hobby store (so the center of the board won't
touch the rack in the toaster oven and nothing will disturb the caps), and
cook on the rest of the parts.  Once or twice I've been desoldering and
*wanted* parts to fall off, and I had to get in there and thwack it at
the point when it's hot enough, since otherwise they're happy where they
are (that's impressive about the TO-220 but I can see it!).

John Wilson
D Bit