Smonson's poorly-thought-out toaster oven reflow experiments

Tool suggestions, soldering tips, general useful electronics knowhow.
User avatar
DrF
Posts: 640
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2017 1:18 pm

Re: Smonson's poorly-thought-out toaster oven reflow experiments

Post by DrF »

Smonson wrote: Mon Aug 17, 2020 1:47 pm
DrF wrote: Mon Aug 17, 2020 1:40 pm What about getting one of those controller kits?
They were quite the fashion a few years ago, I suspect they have come down loads now with the masses of cheap micro controllers all over the place.
To control the oven? I'm expecting it to be a lot quicker and cheaper to scratch-build it. Plus, I don't know what kind of display I need to mount on the front yet. It depends on what will fit into the space.
Just a idea, I don't know how tight the tolerance for over temperature or under the parts could take, from when I looked into this before there was ramp up times, time profiles for different stuff/size of boards etc. lots of pretty graphs :lol: so im guessing its a bit more complex than turn the timer on for 10 mins and hope?
User avatar
Smonson
Posts: 708
Joined: Sat Oct 28, 2017 10:21 am
Location: Canberra, Australia
Contact:

Re: Smonson's poorly-thought-out toaster oven reflow experiments

Post by Smonson »

Yup - it would take a few days to get the software up and running, but that's all part of the fun!
User avatar
Smonson
Posts: 708
Joined: Sat Oct 28, 2017 10:21 am
Location: Canberra, Australia
Contact:

Re: Smonson's poorly-thought-out toaster oven reflow experiments

Post by Smonson »

I've got this all together now, hardware-wise.

167768497_10159505512820850_2519704344616466622_n.jpg
167768497_10159505512820850_2519704344616466622_n.jpg (311.59 KiB) Viewed 3046 times
166395819_10159505512870850_7337852905344548918_n.jpg
166395819_10159505512870850_7337852905344548918_n.jpg (253.54 KiB) Viewed 3046 times

There is a fly in the ointment however. After some initial testing it seems that the heat from the heating elements takes about 120 seconds to be fully picked up by the thermocouple. I assume that this is because the large thermal mass of the big metal probe that it's encased in. Probably made for taking temperatures anally or something.

It's a bit useless for negative feedback on the heating element with a delay like that since the entire soldering operation is only supposed to take 240s - I might need to look for a different one that can heat up quicker before I can use this thing without setting all my boards on fire.
User avatar
Smonson
Posts: 708
Joined: Sat Oct 28, 2017 10:21 am
Location: Canberra, Australia
Contact:

Re: Smonson's poorly-thought-out toaster oven reflow experiments

Post by Smonson »

OK, I got a "low mass" thermocouple and the response time is very good now. I've put everything together and covered the whole inside with heat-reflecting tape. I did a quick "manual" test with some random blobs of solder on old PCBs and it seems to work pretty well!

Now I just have to make the software a bit more automatic, and, I guess, make up a little bracket for the screen and buttons (low priority).

pic3.jpg
pic3.jpg (359.66 KiB) Viewed 2932 times
User avatar
Icky
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 3986
Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2017 10:57 am
Location: UK

Re: Smonson's poorly-thought-out toaster oven reflow experiments

Post by Icky »

Nice work @Smonson. Thats quite a hack going on there.
User avatar
Smonson
Posts: 708
Joined: Sat Oct 28, 2017 10:21 am
Location: Canberra, Australia
Contact:

Re: Smonson's poorly-thought-out toaster oven reflow experiments

Post by Smonson »

Icky wrote: Sun Apr 18, 2021 12:19 pm Nice work @Smonson. Thats quite a hack going on there.
Thanks Icky :)
alannguyen
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2023 8:12 am
Contact:

Re: Smonson's poorly-thought-out toaster oven reflow experiments

Post by alannguyen »

Smonson wrote: Tue Aug 11, 2020 1:12 pm Yep. Me again with another hare-brained scheme. :dizzy:

I impulse-bought one of these $29 ovens at K-Mart and decided that the almost impassable mountain of junk in my garage could be bigger.

toaster-reflow.jpg

It is packed with features:
  • Low flammability sheet metal construction
  • Dial goes all the way to 230C
  • Satisfyingly loud DING! noise
Perfect for soldering!
Fascinating project you have going on here @Smonson.
When it comes to household appliances, Alan Nguyen knows his stuff. As a writer and product reviewer at HealthyKitchen101, he's always on the lookout for innovative and practical gadgets that can help home cooks save time and effort.
Alan Nguyen
Post Reply

Return to “ELECTRONICS”