![solder reflow station solder reflow station](https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1hbFdeBDH8KJjSspnq6zNAVXac/Puhui-T962A-infrared-reflow-oven-station-solder-IC-HEATER.jpg)
It has a 1X objective lens and two pairs of wide-field oculars, 10X and 20X. Decent wide-field microscopes start around US$200 new used units from top-line manufacturers (Nikon, Bausch & Lomb, et al) are sometimes as low as US$100.Ībout 3 years ago, my employer bought a binocular microscope from “ Amscope”. We pass everything under a 10X binocular microscope to find bridges and dry joints. Half an inch (1 cm) of fine sand in the skillet improves uniformity of heat distribution. The specified shelf-life is 6 months under refrigeration we get about 2 years when it’s kept in a desk drawer (and rejuvenated once or twice with a squirt of isopropanol).Ī glass cover on the skillet is not essential, though watching things happen speeds up the initial process calibration. Our solder is Kester EP-256 from CML supply. Definitely apply solder paste with a stencil, and be prepared to try different stencil thicknesses and/or stencil-shrink parameters. It’s important to be consistent and uniform for the process to work.
#Solder reflow station plus
Since the skillet heats the entire board plus all the components at once, soldering the thermal pad is not a problem. Even using two soldering irons at a time, we couldn’t get consistent, thorough, solder-wetting of that thermal pad. We actually stumbled onto the skillet method by accident, after having problems doing hand-soldering of a chip with an exposed back-side thermal pad. Depending on size (obviously!) there is room in the skillet for 2 to 8 boards at a time. We typically do boards in batches of 5 to 20 units. (But it is MUCH easier to work with 50 mils and 0.95mm.) Hand-placed parts want to have a larger courtyard area than automated placement. Passives are 0805 or 1206 semiconductor packages have lead pitch down to 25 mils or 0.65mm. Our boards range from about a dozen parts, up to around 100 parts. (Our skillet was US$5.00 in a second-hand store.) ( Here’s one, of several, online pages discussing the method.) There has been a fair amount of cut-and-try to the process, but we made it work and you can’t beat the price.
![solder reflow station solder reflow station](https://www.wesource.com/images/products/secondary/60487-2.jpg)
I currently work for a (very) small manufacturer, about a dozen employees in total.įor several years we have successfully used an electric skillet as our “tabletop reflow oven”. However when I saw "first PCB" I really felt like you where about to jump the gun and invest in something that doesn't make sense to me.For batch production of say 10’s of boards, whats going to work better? A hot plate or an oven? Frankly I'm the type of guy that loves to buy tools so in a way it pains me to guide you away from a great tool. So maybe not helpful in the way you wanted but it is honestly what I feel is right. A reflow works station might make sense long term, but for a first PCB not a chance.
![solder reflow station solder reflow station](https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1gZ2ZBZyYBuNkSnfoq6AWgVXag/T-962-Infrared-IC-Heater-Reflow-Wave-Oven-Desktop-Reflow-Solder-Oven-BGA-SMD-SMT-Rework.jpg)
Even if this is a start up business I'd look for a reflow oven solution first. To put it another way, I'm not convinced that going with a reflow work station even makes sense for a hobbyist when people have had real success with reflow ovens at lower expenses. It is a skill you will be required to use when a reflow gun would not be the right choice. Beyond that it is a good idea to learn to solder SMD components with more conventional soldering irons. Instead buy a decent soldering station first and use that to build a good reflow oven and properly reflow the board. If you don't want Chinese-made and want European, then probably something like ERSA would work - but prepare for an eye-popping price tag. the Quick 861DW or (slightly cheaper) clone BEST BST-863 work well. On the other hand, if you are planning to rework BGAs or stuff that is under cans (like shields on smartphones), you need a more powerful device.Į.g. These 858Ds style stations are nothing else but effectively a hair dryer, they work for smaller parts and general work. Many clones came miswired without grounded nozzle or even with the nozzle live with mains voltage! And even then the first thing I would do is to open the device and check the wiring. Well, if you approach this with the " cheap china stuff that doesnt work probably" then you are going to have a hard time, indeed.Įspecially when all the cheap (sub $1k) stations are made there.Ītten 858D is decent cheap design, there are many copies but I wouldn't really go cheaper than this - it is just not worth the "saved" money.