[chbot] DIY SMD reflow soldering

[Volker Kuhlmann]

Mach Flott den Schrott...

Damn, Heise is good. The annual competition of cleverly turning
electronic junk into useful machinery, has this suggestion for DIY SMD
reflow soldering:

http://www.heise.de/mach-flott/meldung/SMD-Loeten-in-der-Pizzapfanne-1280892.html
http://www.heise.de/mach-flott/artikel/SMD-Loeten-in-der-Pizzapfanne-1276166.html

For those with language barrier (do look at the photos), a very short
summary:

1) Find an electric frypan with glass lid.
2) Spread out a bag of quartz sand (for sand pictures?) from the craft
shop, for even heat distribution.
3) Diddle the thermostat to go a little higher than maximum. Optimal
sand temperature found there to be 330°C.
4) Squirt SMD solder from the syringe onto the pads, place components.
Note: Do NOT use lead-free solder!
5) Place PCB into reflow oven. Observe though glass lid.
6) Lifting lid cools surface enough to just solidify solder.
7) Remove PCB carefully.
8) Touch up solder bridges by putting on liquid flux and touching a
soldering iron tip to the pins, tilting the PCB to use gravity for
letting the solder flow back onto the tip.
9) Wash flux off PCB.
10) For multi-pin components like the Xilinx FPGA with 0.5mm pin
spacing: Place chip carefully in the correct place, fix to PCB with 2
opposite pins and hand soldering. Squirt a sausage of SMD solder along
the front of the pins, into the corner to the pad. Surface tension when
melting typically prevents solder bridges.


Related, this article
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Vom-Breadboard-zur-Platine-Schaltplandesign-und-Layout-mit-Fritzing-1282530.html
mentions the university of Potsdam has a project of making a PCB layout
program, said to be compatible with eagle:
http://fritzing.org/  (English)


Remembering the recent CNC PCB making thread, is there anyone who has
whatever method operational and would be prepared to cut some copper
board in return for appropriate payment?

Volker

-- 
Volker Kuhlmann
http://volker.dnsalias.net/	Please do not CC list postings to me.