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.

1. Element not energized
2. 30°
3. 46°
4. 65°
5. 90°
6. 105°
7. 125°
8. 140°
9. >150°
10. >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.