The problem is I expect failures at other points than just soldering the microcontroller. With expected 4-5 boards going to waste, $50 per board is rather much.

Possibly, before going with the fully-blown DS80C400 I will try some smaller projects as a training, and to see what problems I could expect. Besides, from the photos it was quite clearly visible the limit to the track size was resolution of the printer (visible "stairs" in diagonal lines) so on a 1200DPI laser printer even thinner tracks should be possible.

There seems to be a solution to the solder mask problem too - I can't find the site ATM, but there was some kind of tape you stick on the board, with comb-like edge with gaps right where the pins go - it works like a solder mask.


And since I'm posting - some more links...

another heat gun design: (the site was down but courtesy of Internet Archive the old version is still available)
http://web.archive.org/web/20030.../apps.html

Using blu-tack to attach chips while soldering:
http://www.blackboxcamera.com/STV5730A/...dering.htm