Rick,
There are a number of excellent video tutorials and demos of various
homebrew methods to reflow solder. In them you will find many examples of
using either a hot plate, an electric frying pan (without oil), an electric
griddle, or a toaster oven. In each demo I've seen, the narrator suggested
using dedicated pans or ovens and not the ones you prepare food in. They
may seem to defy logic ("Given a single sided board, I don't see how a hot
plate could work. By the time the traces were hot enough to melt solder,
wouldn't the opposite side be black?"), but they very clearly work.
YouTube is your friend.
73,
Todd
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K7TFC / Medford, Oregon, USA / CN82ni / UTC-8
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QRP (CW & SSB) / EmComm / SOTA / Homebrew / Design
On Sat, Jan 12, 2013 at 6:06 AM, Rick Sparber <rgsparber@...> wrote:
> ∗∗
>
>
> KISS,
>
> The idea of soaking my board in cooking oil does not thrill me. But I can
> see how it would do a great job of conducting the heat. I am surprised it
> doesn't contaminate the surface to the point where solder does not bond to
> the copper.
>
> Given a single sided board, I don't see how a hot plate could work. By the
> time the traces were hot enough to melt solder, wouldn't the opposite side
> be black? Now, a toaster oven might work but how do you get in there to
> distribute the solder? Or are you assuming that solder paste has been put
> down first. I looked up the cost of this mix of flux and particles of
> solder - $$$.
>
> As for speed, I only tried it on a 1" x 1" piece of scrap so didn't think
> about speed. On a large board, I can see that getting rather old.
>
> I'm not ready to abandon the basic idea of "painting" the board with
> solder from a hot brush. My soldering tip gives me a brush about 1/16"
> wide. But if the brush was 1/2" or even 1" wide, this could go very fast.
>
> Rick
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com]
> On Behalf Of KeepIt SimpleStupid
> Sent: Friday, January 11, 2013 9:04 PM
> To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: RE: [Homebrew_PCBs] No HASL
>
> It definitely was pretty quick. I basically used the same sort of
> technique for tinning copper pipe except for the heating method. With pipe,
> you clean, flux, add solder and wipe with a wet rag. If it doesn't take,
> you sand and do it again.
>
> I havn't tried the SMT assembly technique that basically uses a flat block
> of say aluminum in a pan. I would imagine that that would work too
> especially if you used a decent thermometer.
>
> I was also using a gas stove as well.
>
> It's entirely possible that a toaster oven and an aluminum plate would
> work too.
>
> The soldering iron apply technique is too slow.
>
> --- On Fri, 1/11/13, Rick Sparber rgsparber@...> wrote:
>
> From: Rick Sparber rgsparber@...>
> Subject: RE: [Homebrew_PCBs] No HASL
> To: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Friday, January 11, 2013, 3:48 PM
>
> Does sound rather messy but maybe fast. I know you can get a fine mix of
>
> flux and solder that is used for surface mount. I wonder if you could
> spread
>
> some of this paste on the board and then cooked it in the pan. Is there an
>
> easy way to form tiny particles of solder? I know the first lead shot was
>
> formed by pouring it from a great height and letting it land in a big pail
>
> of water.
>
> Rick
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> From: Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com]
>
> On Behalf Of KeepIt SimpleStupid
>
> Sent: Friday, January 11, 2013 1:40 PM
>
> To: homebrew_pcbs@yahoogroups.com
>
> Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] No HASL
>
> I did it this way: I used a frying pan, peanut oil and something to keep
>
> the board off the bottom of the pan.
>
> Solder dip and wet rag.
>
> The oil residue was tough to remove. I would not use this method on
>
> critical circuits though.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 1:34 PM EST Rick Sparber wrote:
>
> >I was playing around with some scrap pieces of circuit board I etched
>
> >and drilled in order to find a way to simulate the HASL (Hot Air Solder
>
> >Leveling) process. This process puts down a very thin coat of solder
>
> >over the copper. The solder protects the copper plus makes soldering in
>
> >components easier.
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >I found that I could brush the board with flux. Then I built up a small
>
> >bump of solder on the ground plane. Using my soldering iron as a paint
>
> >brush, I dipped into the bump and then painted the copper. When done, I
>
> >scrubbed the board with alcohol. Worked great. I had no shorted paths.
>
> >
>
> ------------------------------------
>
>
> Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, and Photos:
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBsYahoo! Groups Links
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
> ------------------------------------
>
>
> Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, and Photos:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBsYahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]