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Yes. Injection molding is a dark art. One feature in the design can take your mold from a simple tool to a huge monster with side actions, multiple injection p

Yes. Injection molding is a dark art. One feature in the design can take your mold from a simple tool to a huge monster with side actions, multiple injection ports and all kinds of injection mold voodoo costing tens of thousands of dollars. Love the Bridgeport. I have somehow resisted the temptation to convert it to CNC. Another reason I love it is that I use my garage shop in mentoring a group of kids at the local high school robotics team. Nothing like making parts on a manual mill and lathe to learn about the real world of "just 'cause you can draw it in Solidworks it doesn't mean you can make it that way". One of my favorite moments to witness with the kids is when the make two parts that are to be bolted to each other and they can't. The holes a don't line-up and the hole diameters are not what they expected. What follows is a chat about Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (Light Edition). Fun stuff.

Animats 10y ago
Off-topic: what should TechShop get as a small SMT reflow oven? TechShop bought $200 T962 IR reflow ovens for all the TechShop locations. They're useless because the heat distribution is so non-uniform that they scorch the center of the board. There are various hobbyist mods available, and toaster oven conversions, but they need a low cost, robust, off the shelf product. I've convinced them that what they have is no good, but don't have an alternative to recommend.
- rebootthesystem 10y ago
  This is a tough question to answer because the answer is likely to be larger and far more expensive machines. We use SMT lines that are over 50 feet long with pick and place at one end and AOI (Automated Optical Inspection) and x-ray inspection at the other end. That said, back when I was still bootstrapping my business in the garage I reflowed SMT boards with everything from toaster ovens to hot plates. I have to say that my favorite budget reflow tool back then was a hot plate with a really thick top. There are some that have a metal cover box that will make a little oven-like environment. None of these are 100% reliable, of course, and a lot depends on the nature of the board, size, type and mass of components, etc. What you do get is precise temperature set points. I'll see if I can ask our manufacturing engineers tomorrow and see if there is such a thing as a cheap lab-class reflow oven that does a decent job. It isn't going to be $200, I can tell you that much.

Animats 10y ago

Off-topic: what should TechShop get as a small SMT reflow oven? TechShop bought $200 T962 IR reflow ovens for all the TechShop locations. They're useless because the heat distribution is so non-uniform that they scorch the center of the board. There are various hobbyist mods available, and toaster oven conversions, but they need a low cost, robust, off the shelf product. I've convinced them that what they have is no good, but don't have an alternative to recommend.

rebootthesystem 10y ago
This is a tough question to answer because the answer is likely to be larger and far more expensive machines. We use SMT lines that are over 50 feet long with pick and place at one end and AOI (Automated Optical Inspection) and x-ray inspection at the other end. That said, back when I was still bootstrapping my business in the garage I reflowed SMT boards with everything from toaster ovens to hot plates. I have to say that my favorite budget reflow tool back then was a hot plate with a really thick top. There are some that have a metal cover box that will make a little oven-like environment. None of these are 100% reliable, of course, and a lot depends on the nature of the board, size, type and mass of components, etc. What you do get is precise temperature set points. I'll see if I can ask our manufacturing engineers tomorrow and see if there is such a thing as a cheap lab-class reflow oven that does a decent job. It isn't going to be $200, I can tell you that much.