[chbot] DIY SMD reflow soldering

[Charles Manning]

... or...

Buy a gas soldering kit from Dick Smith for $70.
http://dicksmith.co.nz/product/T1105/pro-iroda-pro-70k-solderpro-kit

The hot Blower tip does a great job of SMD soldering and rework. And fits in 
your pocket to do other soldering work too.



On Thursday 21 July 2011 20:40:16 Volker Kuhlmann wrote:
> 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-128089
>2.html
> http://www.heise.de/mach-flott/artikel/SMD-Loeten-in-der-Pizzapfanne-127616
>6.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-Schaltpla
>ndesign-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