any electronics geeks in here?

[vonkaar]

I'm really really wanting to experiment with an arduino... anybody here familiar with this shit?

The big thing that's freaking me out is SMT soldering. I have done a lot of soldering before but, only 1 smt joint in my life (repairing a video card 8 years ago).

Who here can help me if I run into issues? Anyone?

[Ganzo]

what you need to know? i do electronics daily now at the new job

[vonkaar]

kick ass, thanks Ganzo =)

I guess the main question is with magnification and iron-tip sizes. I always see people use those 30x~ stereo microscopes when working with SMT, but I watched a video of a guy doing it freehand... he's much better than me =p. Do you think I can get by with a desk-mounted magnification glass (the lit, articulating arm style)? And, what size tip do you suggest? I have a weller soldering station, like this one(but with the digital temperature readout), so I know I should have np finding appropriate sizes.

Also, I'm going to be writing code for the arduino. It's very C++, which I used 12 years ago extensively. I'm hoping it will all come back to me. I think I should be okay finding help on this from the various Arduino forums. It would be cool if someone here knew these things really well.

Anyway, thanks for the help =)

[Ganzo]

IC's usually have recommended tip sizes, i usually go with smallest that will take since any rework i do is on surface mount components