SMD soldering preferences?

[jon volk]

Ive had a few pcbs done by JLCPCB with their SMT assembly service with pretty good success. I'd like to take the leap to doing some soldering of my own boards until the novelty wears off. I'm not too interested in hand soldering, but rather solder paste/stencil. Whats the favored solder paste type and heating method for folks that have done it here. Ive been looking at both a hot air station and heat plate. Both seem to have their advantages and disadvantages. Ive also seen some DIYs using a toaster oven. What works well in practice with the typical components we use as a group..i.e. stm32s, can transceivers, etc.

[joromy]

I have used both oven and hot plate.
And I prefer hot plate and hot air, then you have full control of components sliding, and can correct it.
And you can apply just enough heat and see the solder melt.
If I make one board I use manual solder pasting, but stencil is not very expensive any more.

How it's made (inverter board)
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