woods@weird.com (Greg A. Woods)  wrote:
 > Unfortunatley the word "proper" doesn't (yet) apply....  :-)
 > 
 > Someday I'll either find a used SMT workstation, or be able to afford a
 > new one.  As for the skills, well they may or may not come along
 > sometime after that.  :-)

We build proto's of PCI Weasel's in house using some fairly inexpensive
tools. An $800 Leister heat gun, a pneumatic solder paste dispenser
we found at a bay area junkyard, and cheap-ass air compressor. Total
investment, <$1000.  And we have 244 pin TQFP's with .5mm spacing
on them.

So while this is out of range of most home hobbyists, it shows you
don't need a hugely expensive workbench if you're doing it once a
year.