5 ms·
How do you feel about using a toaster oven? I've had some success using a DIY reflow oven and pick-n-place by hand. Haven't tried 0201's, but 0402 resistors and
by bhickey 11y ago
How do you feel about using a toaster oven? I've had some success using a DIY reflow oven and pick-n-place by hand. Haven't tried 0201's, but 0402 resistors and 5mm QFN packages go pretty well.
Just don't use lead free solder.
- cillian64 11y agoI think the hate for lead-free solder is either a bit much, or outdated. I've used nothing but lead-free for both hand-soldered PTH and toaster-oven-reflowed SMT and get reliably excellent results. This is with cheap solder, dodgy HASL PCBs and a consumer toaster oven.
- LeifCarrotson 11y agoI don't know about cheap solder - I have done rework on lead-free boards that required an absurd amount of heat - but I love working with Sparkfun's special blend of 96.35% Sn, 3.0% Ag, 0.5% Cu, 0.15% Sb (Antimony): https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10243 https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10243
- bhickey 11y agoGot any debugging tips? I had a lot of trouble with lead-free paste bridging on small pitch components.
- stephen_g 11y agoJust don't use crap solder, actually... There are some good lead free solders available on the market now. Nihon Superior SN100C, for example. The biggest problem I see with hand soldering is people not using enough flux (get a no-clean flux pen, they're amazing) and then just blaming the solder when they can't get it to flow... Reflow will do similar if you let the flux dry out (keep it in the fridge - I often put it in a zip-lock bag to try and really keep moisture out also).