I ordered some smd j201 and adapters from chromosphere ages ago for those ubiquitous amp-in-a-box style projects, and every time I looked at the adapters and the jfets I knew there was no way I was going to be able to solder those together. I wandered into Jaycar today and happened across some some "wire glue"...
What's the worst that can happen?
I'm dabbing it onto the pads, using a tweezer to place the jfet on the tiny blobs, and little pressure to push it in, and then a tiny dab on top. Maybe I'm just chickening out, but if this works I'm happy with that.
http://www.jaycar.com.au/wire-glue-9ml/p/NM2831
Why so worried, dude? Its easier then you think. I just apply a little solder to one of the pads, then reheat that solder and shove the transistor's tiny little leg in place. It's then fixed into place, apply solder to the other two pads, voila!
The biggest problem is not soldering the transistor, it's holding it in your pliers. A tiny amount of the wrong pressure and it flips away, and they're so damn small making them next to impossible to find if they ever fall on the ground.
Don't use pliers. Get some tweezers.
You don't need flash ones, either. Mine are from the supermarket, and originally intended for eyebrows, not for surface mount device work.
As the dudes have said previously: Get some tweezers (I use flat ended). You can get jewellers tweezers quite cheap.
These make the world of difference for me.
And solder one pad first (no part fitted). Fit the part, solder the one pad, then follow up.
It's pretty easy when you get used to it, and may well be a lot less fiddly than what you are doing.
Yeah, I keep wanting to give it a go. I lost the first one - it landed on the small table in front of me, bounced off and I figured that would be the last I saw of it.
Using tweezers to put these in place. Fiddly little buggers.
Best advice I got when doing first SMD was to get really thin solder and a flux pen. Made it really easy!
Thin solder is a must. I use 0.4m. 0.7 - 1m solder will feed to fast and make a mess. Some decent tweezers also pretty essential imo.
I did 5 of them a few months back. Chromo's youtube tutorial helped heaps in preparing for what I was getting myself into.
Can I say, it was an exercise in patience, and a challenge with shakey hands.
And Jaycar only had .7mm solder.
I still have 3 left so I'm on the hunt for a project to use them in.