[beardyw]

My hands are a bit shaky now, so I don't attempt anything but through hole. I would avoid asking people to do surface mount unless it is reasonably straightforward - it was never meant to done that way.

[zkirill]

> avoid asking people to do surface mount unless it is reasonably straightforward - it was never meant to done that way.

This is the kind of comment that I was hoping to read here. Would you mind elaborating? What is considered straightforward? Can a PCB be designed or printed in such a way that makes it straightforward to surface mount components? Does the number of PCB layers factor into this?

[beardyw]

I would say component size and pin spacing mainly.