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Soldering SMT components

forum member davetypeguy provided me with carrier boards for Altera EPM7128SQC100 which is a surface mounted component with lead pitch of 0.65mm (25.5mil). I received two versions of the carrier board. The first version is for machine soldering which does not have much room for a soldering iron. It is possible to solder it by heating the leads with the iron and applying solder to the leads at the same time. Not a pretty solder joints, but it works.

The second version has generous long pads for the solder iron to preheat and apply solder to the pads so it will flow to wet the leads. This is the right way to build SMT footprints for hand soldering.