Not to worry. 
Milwaukee probably didn’t make the thing anyway, based on the recall notice it was manufactured by Wagner. In fact, the housing and controls of the Wagner HT3500 look identical in form/function to my Milwaukee MHT3300. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Wagner-HT3500-1500-Watt-Digital-Heat-Gun-0503040/203474822
I’m definitely not saying that it’s the best way to do it, but a big heat gun is a handy tool for DIY’ers. Laminating foam, peeling adhesives, softening other materials, etc.
Already got components from DigiKey and stencils from OSHStencils, so I'm ready to go! :)
Thanks wight, nice looking layout, liking the big pads a lot! ;)
With the diode having the numbers 41 on it, and the 1 being where we would normally expect a line, does this line or 1 go to the point of the triangle?
The line goes towards the point. There should also be a line between the pad and the MCU.
I looked up the datasheet on the diode and went with it. :)
The diode is marked with a 41. The "1" goes closest to the Zener pad and towards the MCU, the "4" is closest to the R1 pad and towards the 10uF cap.
Tried to look at your picture to see how you had oriented it on yours but the image wasn't clear enough to tell.
The one in the picture is a SOD-723, which makes it harder to see since it’s so small. If I recall correctly it may not have been marked, I had to test it with my DMM to figure out the polarity. Either way you sure can’t tell from my picture. 
Please check this, you might be able to tell from this picture…
It can be clicked on for a larger view.
Caps crooked. 
Edit - Dang nice work Dale.
Does that look nice Dale, i cant wait till i get my boards and parts and the best part my newer version of the 2008D
It was destiny, Kester EP256 style. 
Thank you sir. I LOVE using solder paste masks from OSHStencils! I MIGHT could have done it almost that neat, but this single sided board is just so easy with the stencil…
Looks fine to me. Resistors and diode are placed correctly, so is the MCU. Since the caps are unmarked we must assume that they are placed correctly. Is that glare, or is there some sort of (white) flux residue around the FET’s tab?
DoF appears to be very tiny in that shot! ~2.0mm I think?
So, in this normal configuration, can that Zener pad closest to the outer ground ring be used to solder a ground lead wire to, for establishing ground inside the pill with a screw instead of worry about press fit connection or outside soldering?
That’s a stacked image.
The Zener is OK for that. For my purposes I’ve been using the outer 3 legs of the FET - this makes for a larger and sturdier connection area for your GND wire.
Crazy! I should expected as much.
That’s just solder around the FET, showing the white table it’s sitting on.
I only stacked 2 images, was taking a quick shot and did it by hand instead of setting up the tripod with the Macro rail on it.
All 3 outer legs are ground? Ok, that’ll work too. I was just thinking that big square pad sitting there with solder on it would be a good place for a ground wire. Keep it thin, with nothing under the wire as it were.
I definitely don’t see a problem with doing that.
While we’re on the topic… another option might be the “1500 Watt 12 Interval Heat Gun” from HF, Item#69343. It’s (constant) ‘sale’ price is $29.99, couple that with the standard 25%-off-on-a-single-item coupon and you’ve got $22.49. Features seem similar to the Wagner tool, but who knows.
Have you tested this with the Zener? Pull the standard diode and replace it with the 200ohm as usual, then do the math on the resistors for maintaining low voltage protection, right?
Realized I have an Olight M3X en-route, with an XM-L emitter and a 700 lumen rating. I also have an MT-G2 sitting around waiting for a home. 2 of em actually….
I have not tested this with a Zener. I have only tested 1s setups. You’re correct though, replace D1 with a 200ohm resistor and then do the LVP math and you should be golden.
Best place to solder a dedicated ground would be across the 3 ground pins of the FET since that’s where most if the juice flows.