I tried this oven bought off eBay for a couple hundred and it didn't perform as advertised.
They state "complete heating" but it made an oval hot spot in the middle of the tray where only components in this area were soldered and the perimeter was left unsoldered. Then trying to raise the temperature to compensate only burned the boards in the center.
I liked the idea of dialing in the reflow profile once and pushing "Start" then 5 or so minutes later, ding!, done. No joy.
Decided to try a $35 Black & Decker 4-Slice Toaster oven (Model TO1313SBD) with it's claimed "Even Toasting" while requesting the return of the fancy re-flow oven. The B&D oven worked great!
Laid enough PCBs to cover the whole tray
Set the TEMP to 180 degrees C
Set function to BAKE
Set Timer pass 10 minutes then down to 5 minutes
Waited until the heating elements turned OFF indicating 180 degrees reached and started a 90 second timer.
After the 90 second pre-heat time, raised the temp to 200 degrees C for 45 to 60 seconds
At this point it was cool to watch the components quiver and flatten against the PCB as the solder melted.
Now I turned OFF the timer and carefully propped the door open a couple inches for 60 seconds
Next fully opened the door to allow the oven to cool another 60 seconds before sliding the tray out and placing on top of the oven like cooling cookies.
It worked the same with silver bearing and regular lead solder paste.
I may have received a funky unit, don't know. But after some back and forth with the eBay dealer, they agreed to accept the return and fully refunded a$ promised.
Bookmarks