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Subject: Toaster oven reflow for SMT devices

From: "caveteursus" <j.walton@...>
Date: 2003-09-17

motivated by the Nuts and Volts article I went out and bought a $29
Black and Decker toaster oven, and then from Digikey some of the
syringe solder paste ($40, you need the syringe plunger too).

I am using something which appears like a dental pick to apply a
small dab of the solder paste on the pad, then carefully place the
device on the pads using a fine tweezer. I find it conventient to
squeeze a bit of the paste onto the ground plane of the board.

toast for a couple minutes at 450 degrees or so -- something like 2
to 3 minutes -- the only problem seems to be that if you remove the
board too quickly the parts can slip around a bit when the solder is
hot.

if you are careful the process works beautifully.

i've posted this on www.diyaudio.com, so far no takers.

jack