4.1 in SMD - It can be done!


 
Not to tip my hand, but I'll be designing an official 4.2 SMD board as well (with an identical layout to be case-compatible). It was my plan to sell them in a phase after the kit version on the Tindie store. I'm not sure when that is going to be now though.

The "main" HeaterMeter board will always be through-hole though. You may find that surface mount soldering is just as easy as through-hole, but to someone who has never soldered it is virtually a deal-breaker regardless of component size. I want to keep the project as approachable as possible for people with zero experience.

The physical size of the PCB is more or less dictated by the un-shrinkable components. You need an LCD, 4 probe jacks, power connector and output connector. You can't make that much smaller that it is currently and still mate it to the RPi.
 
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Sounds like the best of both worlds, go SMD if you want but through hole still available for electronics newbs. I can see the advantage of SMD if going for a mass production board, but for the home builder I don't see the advantage, 'cause due to the other factors you mentioned the whole unit can't really be miniaturized much further unless you ditch the rPi and/or display.... And even if you could, there comes a point where smaller isn't better, like on the display, bigger is better, and if the unit gets too small all the cables may outweigh the HM and pull it around too much.
 
The home builder gets to build it for less money, albeit not a whole lot, and as it's been mentioned, once you get the hang of it, it really is easier than through hole. Plus, it looks really clean in SMD!

Looking forward to an SMD version to put together one day.
 
Steve_M said:
The home builder gets to build it for less money, albeit not a whole lot, and as it's been mentioned, once you get the hang of it, it really is easier than through hole. Plus, it looks really clean in SMD!

Looking forward to an SMD version to put together one day.
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The electronic parts to build the HM don't add up to much at all for the through hole version, with the display being the biggest cost on the list, so the reduction in cost is gonna be insignificant at best. So less money isn't really a point to hang your SMD hat on... Looking cleaner isn't really a good argument for SMD either, cause most people put their HM into some kind of case and therefor can't see the board, and I think the latest through hole version of the HM looks plenty clean as it is. And you can say it a million times, but SMD soldering is not gonna be as do-able for an electronics novice as through hole soldering. Through hole soldering is gonna be much easier for someone with little or no experience with electronics, just being able to hold and see the part clearly and have them held in place by the legs when soldering is a huge deal for a beginner, and why would someone want to "get the hang of it (SMD)" just to solder up one board?

I myself would probably build up a SMD board if/when it is a released, if not just for testing it out and providing Bryan feedback, but I've been soldering for decades... but I think a lot less people would attempt to build a HM if SMD was the only option, which is the reason why I remain an advocate for through hole construction. I'm glad Bryan sees this one my way, cause building a larger HM community is the main goal, and I think the move to all SMD would but a damper on the number of HM's that get built.

I guess one day when there is a through hole and a SMD board available to choose from we will see, my bet is a lot more through hole boards get shipped than SMD boards.....
 
You can't really argue with my opinions, as they're just that. Also, please also don't twist this into me asking for the HM project to become an SMD only offering. I simply chimed into this thread the first time to see if Dave or anyone else had already designed an SMD version of the board.

Cook some meat, have a beer and chill!
 
Steve_M said:
I can appreciate both the pro and anti SMD arguments, but I think in the end, SMD is going to win out. It's really quite easy to hand solder the larger package sizes, as Dave pointed out, and swapping/replacing components is also easier with SMD. The multi-direction button that the HeaterMeter currently uses is only going to be available in an SMD format sometime in the future, since the through hole version is being discontinued. I don't think the switch to SMD will dwindle down the number of folks looking to build a HeaterMeter by much. From what I've seen, quite a few people have wet their feet into the world of soldering and electronics with the HM project, and I think most of them will be able to figure how deal with the change to SMD. There are also a lot of great video tutorials on SMD soldering techniques that can help those getting into it.
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Steve, I'm just going by what has been said in this thread, for instance in the post you made above, which seems to advocate for "the switch to SMD" and indicates this change should not impact the number of HM's that get built. We all have our opinions, and mine is that a switch to SMD would have a big impact on the number of people that take on building a HeterMeter. Recently I took the HeaterMeter to a KCBS competition to show it off and 99% of the people were very intimidated looking at the through hole board, and I noticed the people with the most knowledge of electronics ended up staring at the SMD stuff, and were very relieved when I told them they didn't have to do the SMD stuff if they didn't want the thermocouple. Clearly you or anyone else is free to take a stab at building a SMD version of the HM for yourself, as I pointed out the EAGLE schematics are out there and available for anyone to work with.
 
RalphTrimble said:
Recently I took the HeaterMeter to a KCBS competition to show it off and 99% of the people were very intimidated looking at the through hole board, and I noticed the people with the most knowledge of electronics ended up staring at the SMD stuff, and were very relieved when I told them they didn't have to do the SMD stuff if they didn't want the thermocouple.
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Sounds like you need to prep a bunch of HM boards and have them ready to sell as a little side business next time!
 
Yah, you got that right, I had more than a few people ask me to build a Heater Meter for them.... but I declined because if you add in a decent labor rate for the work to the cost of the parts the price starts to get up there a bit, as well as the investment in parts to do it.... and I think I have already inhaled more than enough solder fumes for my lifetime, so I'm not so eager to do more. I did encourage those that were interested to consider taking a shot at soldering it up themselves, or recruiting a friend or one of their kids or relatives to do it for them, everyone surely knows SOMEBODY that can handle a little soldering, right? I do have a couple spare boards and enough parts to build them up, but if I do that I would prefer to offer them up here through TVWBB community rather than showing up and dropping a turn-key unit in the lap of a BBQ competitor. If Bryan does end up getting some pre-manufactured boards made (likely SMD, btw, cause it makes a lot of sense in that scenario) I think we could get a lot of those folks onboard with the HM. At this KCBS competition there were 48 competitors, quite a few stokers, cyber-Q's etc, but not a single Heater Meter. Most of the guys were using controllers on WSM or gravity feed type smoker boxes, the stick burner guys seemed more likely to nail a couple logs together and crucify me than jump on the electronics bandwagon! LOL
 
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