depends on the density, the smallest that is reasonable to handle is half mm space between pins and obviously no BGA
so components 0306 (look that up on SMD capacitors and/or resistors, it is in subunit of inches (2.4cm)) are very much preferrable (but few mcu have such wide pins)
Normally, what happens is that you build at least two boards each prototype, since one is a "reference", the other is to be "adjusted", so, my humble experience is, have a service solder it for you.
clean, reliable soldering is really difficult and you have to deal with solder to clean everywhere
Use kicad to produce solder mask, also stencil (this is VERY useful) and learn what it is a good groundplane
I downloaded it last night and started playing with it. It's definitely a capable platform, much more so than what I was using. Yes, the learning curve is higher, but not too difficult. Building components is actually easier than I expected. Thanks!
Hey, thanks for the referral of KiCad. I'm using Fritzing now and it's barely adequate. KICad actually looks pretty good! I haven't had time to DL it yet but I will later today. I tried a few others and they weren't so satisfactory. Many design apps for schematics and board design use proprietary file formats.
Do not be afraid to learn how to make components footprint, it is actually a very good way to actually learn the logic of life
A key think to learn is the netlist concept, it is not difficult, but you need to have it clear on back and forth of netlist between schematics and pcb layout. The key point is that it happens often to change components and/or schematics due to pcb constraints.
it is not a one way process schematcs -> pcb it is more bidirectional
Also, put INTO the schematics the part code of the component eg MOUSER 650-DK-621-0940-4S This is one of the reasons to make your own library, you put extra info in the "component"
Have fun, there is lots to learn
My wife will thank you. LOL.
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