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Evaluation of rebuild

A project log for ESP32 Reflow Oven

DIY oven for baking larger PCB boards

miroslav-zuzelkaMiroslav Zuzelka 12/25/2018 at 17:250 Comments

Rebuild of oven to reflow oven is finished. 


Was it worth it? Definitely yes. 

Main reason for this rebuild was big space as I need one for 23x23 cm PCBs (for my other project) but I can reflow also more small PCBs so it will be used quite often I guess.  Because of limited capabilities of the FW (i time of writing this) and that I finished it few hours before i went for Christmas holidays I was able bake 2 boards. One small neopixel ring with 32 RGB diodes, just to test if reflow profile is OK and 1 big board which is those 23x23 cm and contain 144 WS2812B diodes. Both of them went really well and except one dead diode on that big board, they were reflowed really pretty. I would say that these boards are better reflowed than other board with same solder paste, which I baked in one Chinese reflow oven which I have at my work (similar to this one, but for 220V).  

From price point it was also worth it. If I will compare it to similar oven which I have in my work, it´s really cheap. I did not count all parts, but I think the price for my conversion will be somewhere around $100 + I can change what ever I want on it (HW & SW).  

Here is picture from baking my big board. 

and here is board alive (thx to Luboš Moravec, which repaired that dead diode) : 

I will work more on FW side so it can be used with more profiles. Right now will reflow just one profile and is missing any capabilities for menu and those Advanced features, which I mentioned few logs back. 

I hope this project was interesting for you and if you have any question, pls just ask ;-) .

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