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after ruining a handful SOIC parts trying to hand solder them, i spent fifty bucks and bought one of these hot plates: ?
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i then spent a quiet afternoon with a couple of thermocouples, figuring out how to mimic the heating profile for solder paste without a fancy PID controller (pro tip, trying to use the PID "controller" built into the hot plate will brick it).
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it turned out to be surprisingly easy. my lab notebook isn't handy so i am working from memory but it was something like: put the prepared board on the hot plate, turn it on, set the temp to 180C, when the temp gets to 180C, wait 30 seconds, set the temp to 230C, when the? temp gets to 230C, wait 15 seconds, turn off the the hot plate, wait 15 seconds, remove the board and let it finish cooling.
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and after a lot of poor solder joints from mis-applied solder using other DIY methods -- too much, too little, in the wrong place -- that created re-work (life is too short for re-work) i started kester solder in syringe tubes, which pretty much solved the problem.
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cheers bill k7wxw
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ps - how big should i cut my copper clad board for that circuit because i hate wasting my precious copper clad board?? i figure it out by laying out the circuit on graph paper before i glue a single pad down.??? and, yes, gel-style superglue is your friend.
bill K7WXW