Do SMD's have wings?

Use a metal detector on your floor 🙂

Regarding maneuvering small SMD components there is a trick to prevent them from developing “wings and feet”  😉 . I found over the years that if you squeeze the tweezers too much that’s when most incidents occur. Try to only apply mild pressure when squeezing, just enough so they do not fall. Once you manage to position the SMD component to the exact place on the PCB where it needs to be soldered I found that it works best if I use the tip of the tweezers to push down on it rather than the usual squeeze. In my experience, this method works 9 times out of 10. And by the way, I only use tweezers with a very fine tip that is curved (since I found them to be more ergonomic) and always keep them clean by constantly cleaning them with acetone and/or alcohol while in use. I never used straight tweezers. It felt like I didn’t need to.

@ovi4 I was just trying to remove one from the strip and the strip act like a spring board and bong and it was gone.

With my old hands, I am very lucky I did not lose more.

When buying parts, I order a lot, like 100 of the same SMD.

Hey it is only money.

@larry_n7luf Nothing wrong with buying extra. I buy extra primarily because I want to have some on hand for down the road (I will be in this a while being 27) but another added bonus is bulk pricing as more is cheaper. Of course within reason considering the price and what component we are talking about. I agree with @Ovi4‘s comment, that seems to be my technique.

I have specialized ferries that steel smd parts off my work bench 

@larry_n7luf When removing components from the long strip you can use a so-called “Blu-Tack” if you are familiar with it is a kind of easily removable adhesive that looks like “plasticine”.  So, stick a generous “blob” of that on a light-colored table surface (so you can see it better) and then sink one end of the strip in it with the transparent foil facing up. Now use small tweezers with fine tips to peel off a small amount of foil to gain access to the component and then use the same tweezers to lightly grab the component. Job done. PS: if you don’t have Blu-Tak at hand I found that double-sided sticky tape works just as good if not better.

@ovi4 Yes I do have blue tack and I can see how that would work. Thank you!

Getting the small part out with the tweester has been a problem and getting a hold of the part as it has been too tight for some parts.

Maybe I am make to much about this, but is good to see what others are doing.

One reason I ask questions is a lot for maybe new people that are afraid to ask and for me.

Posted by: @tomswork

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I have specialized ferries that steel smd parts off my work bench 

Posted by: @radtekman

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@larry_n7luf Nothing wrong with buying extra. I buy extra primarily because I want to have some on hand for down the road (I will be in this a while being 27) but another added bonus is bulk pricing as more is cheaper. Of course within reason considering the price and what component we are talking about. I agree with @Ovi4‘s comment, that seems to be my technique.

I only could wish I was 27 again or maybe not. Being I will be 79 this year and knocking at the door of 80.

Just so upsetting as I see the parts fly away to know where, sure they are hiding in the rug below never to be seen again.

For picking the parts off the strip itself there is an option you can go for and try: a kind of miniaturized rubber pump with various sizes and interchangeable sucking heads:

You can usually buy them from well-known Chinese websites or maybe Amazon, eBay, etc. It’s worth a try since they are reasonably priced and some people claim that they actually work

@ovi4 I have over the years at them, but how well would they work on 0402 or 0806, and maybe okay for a 1206 would be my question.

If you think about it, in theory, the suction area (diameter) is only as big as the needle’s inner diameter (which would be pretty small possibly under 0.7mm diameter is just the suction cup that makes it bigger) so it should work at least for the 1206 and 0805 sizes. As for 0402, I’m not so sure but again….is worth a try. After all, they’re only cheap.

I don’t really know why, but when I’m inside I’m usually walking around barefoot.  I just find it more comfortable.  Every now and then I’ll feel like there’s just the tiniest stone (or the biggest speck of dirt) stuck to my foot… and sure enough it’s an SMD that’s somehow flown off the workbench.  Also when vacuuming I’ll periodically hear something that sounds pretty hard clicking its way up the suction hose and I figure some of those are probably components too…

I was working on a board once and popped two 0402ish caps off the board on accident. Of course they went on the floor which was a coarse carpet. I spent a while looking but had no luck. I gave up and as a last resort grabbed a big magnet and swept around. To my surprise, I checked the magnet and there they were! After that I became much more careful because that was pure luck.

It is worth giving that a shot. There is no way I would have known what to replace them with.