Solder Reflow with a Frying Pan – part 1
I’ve been dying to have a go at this ever since I read some hobbyist websites on how to do solder reflow at home. I never even thought this was possible to do on a hobbyist budget.
The idea is to use a frying pan or toaster oven to perform solder reflow for SMT circuit boards. I decided to use a skillet thinking that a toaster oven would melt components since it heats both top and bottom.
I managed to find the perfect thing. A pre-owned 9″ electric skillet from the Salvation Army shop for $3.
Believe it or not, this device is not a precision instrument. The temperature dial is simply numbered from 1 to 10. The first thing I need to do is get some idea of what actual temperature this thing gets to.
So I need to do a scientific experiment. Firstly I put some oil in the pan and stuck in a thermometer (the fork is to hold the probe in the oil). Then I turned up the heat slowly making a note of the temperature. Finally I graphed the result. Here are the results in degrees C. That cheap little temperature knob is surprisingly linear.
- Element not energized
- 30°
- 46°
- 65°
- 90°
- 105°
- 125°
- 140°
- >150°
- >150°
The last two entries I could not measure since the thermometer only went up to 150°C, but by extrapolation I get 155° and 175°. Yes I did this on paper, it is much quicker than using Excel!
I am now ready to use this thing for solder reflow.
Pingback by Solder reflow with a frying pan « adafruit industries blog — 9 March 2009 @ 11:04 pm
[...] Adam Pierce’s solder reflow with a frying pan – part 1 & part 2. Adam writes – I’ve been dying to have a go at this ever since I read some hobbyist websites on how to do solder reflow at home. I never even thought this was possible to do on a hobbyist budget. [...]
Pingback by Frying Up a PCB - Spooning — 10 March 2009 @ 7:46 am
[...] and ovens to do solder reflow at home. Somehow they’ve never seemed that accessible though, until now. Solder reflow in a frying pan sounds as easy as…well, cooking? Solder Reflow in a [...]