- Wed Dec 14, 2005 12:04 am
#8565
Sparky,
You have no idea how much I wish I had come across your site a couple of months ago. For the past couple of months, I have independently been working on a reflow oven. My journey took me to a Krups oven and a PID controller (CAL-Conttrolls 9500) and an AVR butterfly for control. I actually don't recommend CAL-Controls because while they have good hardware, their support and software sucks. Unfortunately, I did not take pictures along the way to share but I matched the Kester profile extremely close.
I really think that the best way to match the profile is using a PID controller. I recommend looking at http://www.expertune.com/tutor.html and their whole site for good information on PID.
In my case what I also found that was useful was to place two pieces of mirror finish stainless steel one at the top and one at the bottom of the oven to reflect the IR heat from the quartz elements and to have the convection fan be running to get good distribution.
I got so close to buying the Madell oven that you describe. Based on your findings, I am really glad that I didn’t.
Which takes me to the topic of the post.
When I was at Madell, looking at their ovens, I came across their xyz positioning table: http://www.madelltech.com/xyztable.html. This is a really cool device but I am not sure if it is worth $1,000. I find that for QFN packages you have to be very careful to place them on the solder paste as there are really no leads to line up. Slightest mistakes can be very time consuming to fix. I really don’t need help with x and y as I can do a good job under the microscope. However, when lowering, the chip to place on the solder paste, slightest movement or shaking of the hand can be disastrous.
So I am in quest of a simple device that can lower a suction tip holding the chip with assistance of a foot pedal or something like that.
Before jumping the gun I wanted to run this by the group and make sure I am not leaving out any simple solutions (e.g. your skillet idea). I was wondering if you had a similar issue how you managed to solve it.
You have no idea how much I wish I had come across your site a couple of months ago. For the past couple of months, I have independently been working on a reflow oven. My journey took me to a Krups oven and a PID controller (CAL-Conttrolls 9500) and an AVR butterfly for control. I actually don't recommend CAL-Controls because while they have good hardware, their support and software sucks. Unfortunately, I did not take pictures along the way to share but I matched the Kester profile extremely close.
I really think that the best way to match the profile is using a PID controller. I recommend looking at http://www.expertune.com/tutor.html and their whole site for good information on PID.
In my case what I also found that was useful was to place two pieces of mirror finish stainless steel one at the top and one at the bottom of the oven to reflect the IR heat from the quartz elements and to have the convection fan be running to get good distribution.
I got so close to buying the Madell oven that you describe. Based on your findings, I am really glad that I didn’t.
Which takes me to the topic of the post.
When I was at Madell, looking at their ovens, I came across their xyz positioning table: http://www.madelltech.com/xyztable.html. This is a really cool device but I am not sure if it is worth $1,000. I find that for QFN packages you have to be very careful to place them on the solder paste as there are really no leads to line up. Slightest mistakes can be very time consuming to fix. I really don’t need help with x and y as I can do a good job under the microscope. However, when lowering, the chip to place on the solder paste, slightest movement or shaking of the hand can be disastrous.
So I am in quest of a simple device that can lower a suction tip holding the chip with assistance of a foot pedal or something like that.
Before jumping the gun I wanted to run this by the group and make sure I am not leaving out any simple solutions (e.g. your skillet idea). I was wondering if you had a similar issue how you managed to solve it.
rpourzia
