I think it'll still be around; the biggest cost will
be the surface finish of the PCB. Low cost RoHS
boards do not have a long shelf life (the solder
finish corrodes quickly); the better boards cost more
(silver or gold compounds). There is still something
of a market for through-hole components, so IMHO
resistors and caps will be around for a long time in
thro-hole. And common parts like 7805's and LM324's
and the like.
What won't be around forever are parts like NE/SA612's
and the like. SMT is where the part development is
occurning in, and in fine lead pitch at that. So,
"cool" parts will be hard to come by, while more
generic parts will still be available for quite some
time.
We might have a few more years by accepting more of
the larger SMT parts Or buying semi-assembled kits
where the really small parts (or all the SMT parts)
are pre-installed. Some assembly places charge many
cents per thro-hole part installed, and some parts are
best as thro-hole, so a balance between "hard" and
"easy" parts may be struck. And packaging can still
be done by the homebrewer; punching holes and labeling
hasn't been affected (yet).
But yeah, the times are a-changin'. Before long we'll
be commiserating with the tube guys, or the guys who
only designed with discrete transistors.
Shawn KB1CKT
--- Mike Short <mike.short@mchsi.com> wrote:
> Unfortunately, RoHS has made a mess of kitting.
> Manufacturers have gone to SMT devices, and the
> market for
> Thru-hole components is not enough to produce RoHS
> compliant parts
> To a large degree. The boards, components, and
> solder all have to change to
> Remain compliant. Between that and the certification
> process to make them
> Meet the EU regulations, it is not economically
> feasible to re-engineer
> these.
> Even though kits are generally exempt from RoHS,
> having two complete product
> lines
> Of parts is not worth the cost. It is too bad, but
> that is what is going on.
> I ordered some parts from Mouser recently, and it is
> a mixed bag of
> compliant and non-compliant
> Parts.
>
> Mike
> AI4NS
>
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>
Shawn Upton, KB1CKT
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