I’ve designed a simple magnetic (or taped) jig for holding PCBs while solder paste is applied:
https://climbers.net/sbc/pcb-multijig-stencil-holder-ruler/
while I was at it, I added metric + imperial ruler, common SMD/SMT footprints, Raspberry Pi+ESP pinouts, etc. Feedback very welcome!
Looks good. Where did you print it from?
What do you mean? I designed it myself.
everything is great, but the question is what to do with the installation on the second side of the board?
Hi it looks very nice. My problem has been easily getting the stencil alligned. Could you add some placement holes to hold the stencil, so when you cerate the stencil you make sure the holes you add are where your holes are then you could possibly pin the stencil down and it would be perfectly alligned to your board? It does look very good, but what do you mean “magnetic solder paste stencil holder” ?
FYI…
Stencil’s and Jig-Fixture’s…
Below shows Two ways I do it: 1) Laser 2) 3D-Print
After experimenting enough with LightBurn, Inkscape, Libre-Office(Draw), etc, I dialed it down to:
Using either Inkscape or, CopperCam’s Stencil tool, to generate Gcode for Lasering. Inkscape used SVG from Kicad, CopperCAM used Gerber from Kicad. Both ways are shown in Video
Using FreeCAD with StepUp-Workbench and Kicad’s PCB file to generate STEP file for 3D-Printing. Shown in Video
Results:
Lasering: Did it on Textured Black-Vellum (the only Vellum I have), Kapton and Paper. All three had very Clean edges and corners. Couldn’t be any better! (Kapton and Paper not shown
3D-Printing: I did Not bother to change the Nozzle or dial-in best parameters thus, result is a bit Crude but good enough to indicate that I could get a decent result if I wanted.
NOTE: The Black (in the Green 3D-Print) is from the previous Black PLA that I didn’t bother to Purge - the Wall/Shell Lines are printed first so they are Black.
I did Not clean the 3-Printed one’s, they are as printed. I’m certain 3D-printing these could be dialed-in for very usable stencils.
Lasering was done using Candle (GBRL).
Alignment/Ref indicator’s: Several Option’s can be implemented (none shown). Can use Physical Marker/Pin and/or Graphic…
I did Not use any Plugin’s or Inkscape Extension’s beyond the Stock Gcode tool. That’s why you see the Ugly-green/blue stuff in the Video; a well known Bug that can often be eliminated by Path>Reverse (depending on what the Graphic is).
The CopperCAM - Stencil Video…
Very nice! I didn’t realise it was possible to 3d print something that thin.
You might want to try my Inkscape extension that makes it very quick to go straight from KiCad paste layer to a stencil, taking care of resizing pads and even optimising the cutting order to shave off a few seconds:
https://inkscape.org/forums/other/new-extension-for-pcb-solder-paste-stencils-with-kicad/
I shall have to try black vellum to see how it compares with the white vellum I’ve used. Thanks!
Thanks 
The 3 holes in the corners can take little magnets, so the jig is fixed in place onto a steel sheet. Or you can just tape it down with masking/painters tape. It is all in the article if you click the link.
Agreed. It would be nice to have a more automated alignment system. There are the 6 corner holes that the magnets go in. You could perhaps create stencils with the same holes, and use thicker magnets as ‘pegs’ that the stencil is hooked onto for alignment? I could see that working well with steel stencils.
There are also some through-holes on the jig, so those could potentially be used for stencil alignment with little pins?
Personally I’ve found manual alignment fairly straightforward with a bright work lamp (to reflect the pads) and a small magnifying ring. That is good enough for down to 0.5mm pitch ICs.
It’s 0.12mm thick (thin). Could have gotten down to 0.08mm but, 0.12 is good enough…
ADDED: Sticking and Getting a Thin print Off of the Print-Bed can be ‘iffy’ so, I use a Textured Bed, thus ensuring No need for Adhesive/other. Vid below shows the Thinnest, consistently reliable (thinnest) I will print. Always works without problem. t≈0.2x.
Ah, do you mean if you need to apply solder paste to both sides of the PCB? This jig wouldn’t be suitable for that.
I think he meant where did you get them built.
