SMT stencils

[Badpip]

I am getting tired of applying solder paste with toothpicks, so guess it is time to take the plunge and order some stencils.

Anyone have experience with these?:

http://www.smtstencil.co.uk/

Price is nice, but how easy are film-stencils to use compared to steel?

/Thomas

[danielbriggs]

Thomas,
We used them for the production run of MatILDA boards. Great fast service (to the UK at least), and the stencils are top quality. Made over 180 paste applications on one and still going strong. Highly recommended. Never used a steel one, so can't compare on that front.
I made a little "jig" out of polycarbonate to just pop the bare PCB in and paste over with a squeegee. Works perfectly.

[Badpip]

I was hoping someone had tried them - sounds great!

Thanks!

/Thomas

[kitatit]

Hi badpip,

I have used the stencils from http://www.smtstencil.co.uk/ as well.

I can highly recommend them. Very helpful, cheap and fast delivery even to Australia.


Here are some links to a SMD project I had a go at. I'm a novice at this and I was pretty nervous that it wouldn't work out but it was a success. I'm proud of how it turned out.

These are the only stencils I've ever used so I cant comment on on how they compare to metal but they worked well.

A couple of times I applied a bit too much past and it joined between two pads but most times it works out well. you could wash them and use them again but as they were so cheap to get a couple of copies made I only used them once for each batch.

http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...hp?albumid=247

http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...=die4drive+pro

Good luck and have fun.

Kit

[xanatos]

I've heard several recommendations for the use of the Kapton stencils from the folks on the Parallax Forums. The recomendation is for http://www.ohararp.com/Stencils.html You send them the Gerber or other file data for your project, and they put them on an 8.5 x 11" (21.6 x 28 cm) Kapton sheet for $25.00 - fully custom for your application.

The Kapton stencils are good for hundreds of uses if treated well, while the steel ones are good for unknown thousands of runs.

Dave

[Badpip]

Thanks for all the inputs - I'll try 'em

/Thomas