[chbot] The MHP30 hotplate for SMD soldering - first impressions.

[Mike Field]

Yesterday my "Miniware MHP30 Hotplate" arrived from AliExpress - it took 
nearly 6 weeks but it is here. It's a 30mm x 30mm preheater/hotplate for 
SMD soldering.

I played with it last night, soldering 0.5mm pitch HDMI sockets and 
0.7mm pitch level shifter ICs to some spare PCBs as well as some less 
challenging SOP-14 parts. It works really well. Seems to be perfect for 
rework, or soldering those one or two tricky SMD parts to a PCB before 
putting the rest on by hand. Much simpler than with an iron.

It has a nice weighty base so it won't tip over easily, and if it does 
it switches itself off. It heats up quickly and is very compact (less 
than 50x50x50mm excluding PSU). Has that "Saleae" slightly 
over-engineered feel to it.

There may be a little bit of overshoot on the heading up. I noticed the 
solder paste started to reflow while the display said 190C, which must 
be wrong. However it settled down to the setpoint quickly. The 2-button 
user interface is pretty dire - well into the "LCD monitor settings" 
territory, but once customized it you shouldn't have to fiddle with it much.

The supplied 60W "USB PD" plug pack might be quite useful, but needs a 
travel plug adapter...

Should anybody wants some SOP/SSOP parts mounted on 0.1" adapters then 
just ask, as I've got just the tool for the job...

Mike