[sdiy] Home SMD reflow ovens

[mark verbos]

Justin,

I have done a fair bit of reflow soldering using nothing but a $50 Black and Decker convection toaster over from Target. I just let it preheat at a low temp, bump it up to 375 for a minute then up to max (450 it claims) for a minute or two (whatever it takes to reflow the solder) and then off and crack the door to cool down. It has worked a treat for me, using lead solder. Lead free needs a bit more heat, so it may not work as well.

If you have a stencil made, even a mylar one, the results are so clean and pro there will be no doubt in your mind that this is better than hand soldering. 
The problem I have found is that my boards have so much going on that I can't assemble a "batch" of them in the 2 hours or so before the paste gets dry.
I'm getting a pick n place and pro oven now, so this will be a thing of the past.

Mark



On Sep 9, 2014, at 8:45 AM, Justin Owen wrote:

> Hey all,
> 
> Recently been looking for ways to speed up my home SMD assembly prototyping and this turned up:
> 
> http://www.beta-estore.com/rkuk/order_product_details.html?p=624
> 
> Has anyone got any experience with using this or any similar off the shelf, home SMD ovens?
> 
> Last time I looked there was a half a dozen options for hacking various things together yourself - none of which left me convinced they were better options than hand-soldering or paying a small run assembly house to do the job.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> - Justin
> 
> 
> 
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