This is kinda why I take things apart, to find stuff like this!

While I understand it and it makes sense, it kind of sucks how SMD components have taken over for hobbyists. At one point I regularly extracted resistors / capacitors or IC components for my own projects from garbage I found or was about to throw out. Much less possible now - I know some insane people manage to manually solder smd but I just don't have surgeon's hands. I managed it like once or twice but that was incredibly slow and frustrating and both looked like insane wire-based contraptions made to be able to insert them in through hole boards.

If ever one day I finally have a house instead of a flat, as well as space and time, I do plan to try to build a DIY pick and place machine.

what's a SPARC, i've never heard of that bit of technology?

Neat! I bet Cathode Ray Dude would like this.