Homebrew PCBs

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "jmelson2" <elson@...> wrote:
>The fix was to poke the thermocouple into a through hole near
>the middle of the board.  This way, the temp controller is sensing
>the ACTUAL board temperature, which apparently is hotter than the
>surrounding air, due to the IR from the heating elements.

Hey, I think you're on to something here!  I'm running out of loaded
boards to test on but the one I tried your way came out great --
thanks!!!

I also tried a different empty board *with* soldermask (unknown
laminate -- it's just a cheapy Futurlec SMT/DIP adapter I wouldn't
mind frying) with the thermocouple in the air and it came out OK
too.  Since I varied more than one parameter (soldermask and maybe
laminate), that doesn't prove anything, but it does make me wish I
hadn't ordered a near-lifetime supply of non-soldermask PCBs last
time around.

>I use a ramp and soak thermocouple controller. [...]

Awesome -- thanks for the numbers.  (I'll assume all those
degrees/min rates are actually degrees/sec.)  They're similar to
mine, but different, so the difference may be critical.

Thank you!!

John Wilson
D Bit