--- In
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Daniel Howard Bryant" <coloradobryant@...> wrote:
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> I have not tried this, but I have thought about it a lot. My thinking was to use some sort of temporary solder mask(perhaps peel-able or regular) , mask off the entire PCB except where the via's would be, then dunk the entire board into molten solder, dunk into a solder pot like the 2000W unit sold by jameco.com (part# 149876), using some sort of ceramic tongs to hold the board.
OK I had not thought of something like that. How would you attached the masks and what would make them out of?
> If this method worked you would be able to make through holes on PCB's whose dimensions would be less than 12" by 8"(a lot of circuit can fit that area).
The ones my contractor does with his electro-plating machine are all sizes from about 5mm square up to 400mm square.
I would hope my idea would enable me to do the same.
> My greatest curiosity to the above mentioned idea, is to how well would the joints hold up if one was to then reflow the board with components (I presume the surface tension of the solder would keep the joints sound...but only trials would prove the concept.)
Yeah good point. I will try and find out how the pros do this.
The contractor we use at work has a electro-plating line to do PTH, and I know he uses a reflow system, but it is very different to a toaster oven (lots of blets and flow solder baths).
I would love to try to make an electro-plating system but I am not sure how to go about it so, based on what I have seen for sale by Mega I came up with the pressure roller idea.
> Basically if you decide to reflow paper phenolic PCB's, make sure to let them dry out for a good long time before reflowing them.
Thanks for the tip. I wonder if I could use an old toaster oven I just happen to have spare to dry the board first.
A simple mod to the circuit I have to control the SMT oven would make something suitable for that.