[hpsdr] Weapon of choice?

[ke9h at austin.rr.com]

Neal:

You have asked a somewhat religious question, so are likely
to get multiple answers.

What ever you do, do not use your Penelope for the first
attempt or practice.  Practice on some junk board first,
like a board out of an old hard drive. Remove and replace
a few parts first, and get your temperature settings right.


If you want to use a hot plate, I suggest you read Cash Olson's
website for tips and some video.

If your hot air rework station has a hand held hot air head,
I think Cash and his congregation have had real good results 
using a hotplate to warm the card to just below solder temp, 
then use the hand held hot air gun on the top to push the temp to
just over solder melt for a very controlled reflow.

http://www.kd5ssj.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=120&Itemid=54

http://transmitter.amateurlogic.tv/video/amlogic15.wmv


At work, we use a $29 dollar turbo oven as a reflow
oven for quantity one boards.  It works real well,
if you take the time to calibrate the temperature. 
It is not that critical.  I would
also recommend preheating the oven to temperature
before you put the board in, since you get some uncontrolled
and very high localized temperatures while the oven is 
initially heating up.

I have seen some web sites where some have put some 
sophisticated temperature controls and thermocouple 
monitors on the cheap turbo ovens. 

It is all about temperature control, and
getting even temperatures across the area
of the board you want to solder, even though
you have multiple parts with different thermal
masses.

What ever method you chose, do not use your Penelope
board for the first attempt.  Practice on some scrap
boards, remove some parts, then resolder them on a
junk PC board, like out of an old obsolete hard drive,
or what ever you have in your junk box.

I personally hand solder my SMT boards, using an
anti-static temperature controlled micro-point
soldering iron, but would use a turbo-oven
for a complex board like Penelope.

Search for solder reflow on YouTube.  There are
dozens of videos, both professional and amateur
on there.

--- Graham / KE9H

==
---- Neal Campbell <nealk3nc at gmail.com> wrote: 
> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
> 
> Okay, I have all the parts, stencils, etc. to do the penny build. My
> question from those with more experience than I (thats everyone) is
> whether a hotplate approach is better than a hot air rework station
> approach? I cannot afford a reflow oven so thats out but which is
> best, especially for someone who has never used a hot plate?
> 
> Neal Campbell
> Abroham Neal Software
> Programming Services for Windows, OS X and Linux
> www.abrohamnealsoftware.com
> (540) 242 0911
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