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As far as QFN packages are concerned if you are a skilled solderer you could probably hand solder them but the use of a dano-therm would make your job much easier. However as far as the LGA package is concerned you can only really solder one of these by machine, even with a dano-therm you could not be sure that all the array had made proper connection.
LGA packages actually *can* be soldered by hand. Previously, I soldered and LGA-8 chip with a soldering iron (melting the solder on several pads at once, but I wished I had thought of this technique sooner. This past weekend I figured out a new technique that worked quite well. I still need to refine the technique, but here's the basic approach. First apply a small amount of solder to each pad of the board where the chip will be located. I would strongly recommend this be the first chip you place on your board.
At this point, I would need to experiment to determine the particulars, but here's the next step:
Take a high output heat gun and heat the underside of the circuit board until the solder melts and quickly place the LGA chip on the melted pads. It may work better to place the chip on the solder pads prior to heating though. It also may work better to heat the side of the board with the solder, but I would worry about blowing solder around on the board once it melts.
I have used a heat gun for removing components from existing boards (they fall right off) and other than a few places where the solder ran and melted the solder mask, the board was completely undamaged. Also, I believe by using a heat gun as opposed to a soldering iron, the chances of possibly overheating the chip are greatly reduced.
Melissa
Added after 5 hours 23 minutes:
I just found this. It includes a tutorial on soldering using hot air, which is very similar to what I described, but has more details and video examples.
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