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@psylink@fosstodon.orgThe #PsyLink assembly time has gone down to 1.5h since I'm using partially pre-assembled PCBs 
Still too long. Should get even faster once I find out how to remove all through-hole components - adding these is the bulk of the work since I have to manually trim them to avoid skin scratches, and then electrically isolate the bottom side.
@psylink The THT components you have are just the micro-controller and wire headers, right?
@steven There's 4 types of components with THT.
For some, I have solutions already:
1. microcontroller: I can solder it on directly
2. an on-off switch: there's SMD replacements
For some, I have no good idea yet:
3. wire headers. considering switching to USB cables or similar, with SMD plugs.
4. battery clips. haven't seen any SMD clips for AAA batteries.
thanks for your interest :)
@psylink Apologies in advance for the unsolicited input.
You can definitely buy SMD wire headers in the style you already have, but the footprint is significantly wider.
In keyboard spaces, it's pretty common to use a TRRS headphone jack which is basically mechanically the same as USB.
The issue with TRRS (or USB) is that you'd basically need a microcontroller on each board to cut down each cable to just four wires, but the plus side is you'd be able to daisy-chain data as well as power.
A flexible PCB connector would work, but that's way more likely to break...
@steven I'm very open to any input, thank you!
I've known about the SMD pin headers with the wider footprint but I really want to avoid making the device even larger.
I will check out the connectors though. Sounds interesting. Thanks! :)
@psylink The one other idea is going down to a 1.27mm surface-mount header.
That would be slightly wider still, but less overall. I'm not sure what you'd do for cables, though.