DonsDeals Blog: Reflow Soldering Project Using a Hot Plate and a Griddle

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Thursday, October 31, 2013

Reflow Soldering Project Using a Hot Plate and a Griddle

Here's an interesting Reflow Soldering Project. Using a Hot Plate and a Griddle. With good details on the Build...

Don

Ayefon.com

Reflow Soldering

If you want to read about an easy and inexpensive reflow soldering setup, read on: But first a parts list of the "odd" parts so that when you decide to follow my bread crumbs you won't have to dig to find them later:

1. IR Temperature Sensor from SparkFun - SEN-09570 - $19.95

2. Pansonic Opto Isolated Solid State Relay from Mouser # 769-AQN221VL - $28.28

3. Hotplate Aroma Elite HP-28 about $20 depending on where you get one, Walmart, Amazon but really almost any single burner electric hotplate (not warmer) should do.

4. Griddle of your choice. I got a low priced one at Target. Choose one that you can modify by reversing the handle like the one shown here. Also, make sure it's "flat" so that it sits on the hotplate without wobble. My "bargain" was a bit "bowed" and I had to bend it a bit to get it flat.

5. Arduino Duemilanove of whatever flavor suits you. If doing this from scratch I'd go with ModernDevice.com RBBB kit $13.00 and USB BUB Board $14.00.

As it happens I already had another Arduino but I really like the Modern Device approach to the popular microcontrollers. Rather than repeat the FTDI chip on every unit (which is only used for programming) they separate them allowing the individual micro-controllers to be less expensive. You buy just ONE BUB board and program all your processors with it (and once you get going with Arduino, you'll have more than one, especially at these prices.)

It had been years since I'd done serious PCB work. In particular, I had NO experience with Surface Mount Technology (SMT) and it seemed like more and more parts were available only in that format. I had a wifi project whose principal component was ONLY available in an SMT package so if I was going to play I had to learn how to do it. Fortunately, there is a LOT of good tutorial info out there on the web, most notably at the site www.sparkfun.com . From their tutorials as well as some of the YouTube links in their forums I found a wealth of hobbiest information that convinced me that SMT might just be possible for mere mortals. Not only was this the case, but it is now my FAVORITE way to work with PCB stuff. If you are just getting into SMD work I highly recommend the tutorials on the SparkFun site.

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http://www.ayefon.com/reflow/