Homebrew PCBs

I just tried hot-air rework soldering with paste last night, and I will never solder production boards by hand again! 

A question. Can I stencil the paste on, place the parts, then let the paste harden?

I.E, do I need to reflow while the paste is still soft, or can I wait overnight (or a week, or whatever) or something?

The paste has a guaranteed tack time, usually a couple of hours or so.

You can extend this by storing the boards in a refrigerator, but not
indefinitely.

If you let the paste dry the parts will not stick, and it might not
reflow properly.

ST

On Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 7:15 PM, rlspell2000 <rls@...> wrote:
> I just tried hot-air rework soldering with paste last night, and I will never solder production boards by hand again!
>
> A question. Can I stencil the paste on, place the parts, then let the paste harden?
>
> I.E, do I need to reflow while the paste is still soft, or can I wait overnight (or a week, or whatever) or something?
>
>