Preparing for assembly and placing parts
When the time comes to assemble a circuit board, you should begin by confirming you have everything you need to finish the job. When you reach this point, you will have a bare circuit board plus all of the circuit components you will need, as well as the tools and consumables needed for applying solder paste and performing reflow soldering.
It is helpful to purchase extra circuit components in case you lose or damage any of them during assembly. This is an easy thing to do for inexpensive parts such as SMT resistors and capacitors. For more expensive components, typically integrated circuits, you will have to decide how many spares your budget can tolerate.
The task of placing a large number of components on a board can be quite tedious and error-prone. Your work area should be clear of any obstructions and distractions that might interfere with your ability to successfully populate the board.
It is critically important to ensure the...
