Quote Originally Posted by Bruce View Post

The final ID board is about 1/3 the size of a credit card, and modified to fit into a keychain
type plastic enclosure.

SMD caps & resistors are all 0402 size. Boy were those fun to hand-solder on the last
prototype. Phew...
Neat project! But 0402?
Do you have REALLY good eyesight or do you have really good lighting and magnification?
I'm pretty comfortable with 0603 but it's sure easy to lose those little suckers on the bench...

I'd love to see a thread with "Tips & Tricks" for dealing with SMD parts, along with suggestions and reviews of really handy tools, lighting, magnifying device, etc to make the job easier. More and more "neat new parts" are available as SMD only, and a lot of the "old familiar" through-hole parts are disappearing. SMD is a way of life now. I'd love to see a "SMD Help" category added to the forum...

steve