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toaster oven soldering

September 23rd, 2010, 9:01

Came across this guy who claims he can solder chips with a toaster oven. Anybody ever try this?
http://www.seattlerobotics.org/encoder/200006/oven_art.htm

Re: toaster oven soldering

September 23rd, 2010, 10:55

Its not the best method but it is legit. I know a few Johny boys who use this method to fix the red ring of death on xbox and yellow light on PS3.

The paste flux is something worth investing- but obviously temperatures over degrees Celsius will fry your PCB and cause damage to some microchips.
So you need to invest into something else called chipquick - It is a soldering alloy that melts at degrees Celsius and stays fluid for 3-6 seconds. Thats method is good to REMOVE SMD's but you should never solder SMD's with chipquick back- because once the processor reached 60degress it will just slide of or short circuit.

So its perfectly legit to DE-Solder- but i would use the drag soldering technique with non-leaded 2.5% / 1.5% silver solder alloy with 160 degrees temperature resistant. It guarantees superior connection and wont desolder under over heated or long uses of the device.

Instead of using this grill oven you can invest in a PCB heater - you can get spot heater for single smd removal to complete PCB heater - costs from 99USD to 3000USB for large format heater used for motherboards.

That bloke uses a complete DIY approach to doing his repairs and i am sure has developed some techniques of his own.

You get the Bob that uses his girlfriends hair blower dryer! Absolute joke, or there was a post were a bloke clipped a nail to the PCB and used a acetylene burner to heat the nail and repair smd work.

Re: toaster oven soldering

September 23rd, 2010, 11:02

besides he is using single layer pcb's - and he looks like he is from the 60's :D

Re: toaster oven soldering

September 23rd, 2010, 19:40

Careful....SD or HDRC might get wind of this new technology.... :roll:

Re: toaster oven soldering

September 26th, 2010, 19:01

Yep ,
it is 100% possible, in China there are a lot of guys doing Nand-Flash usb sticks this way.

Go down to your local hardware store, and you can actually pick up SMT production systems, there are a number of different kits available . Some with sliding draws, some that are open but with an IR heater situated above and others that are converted toaster ovens.
Even if you want an SMT screen printer, there are little shops doing the metal masks to lay down the solder paste, really cheap systems.

the only real issue is ventilation , you MUST extract the fumes, most of the volatiles are heavy cancer causers, and if the PCB utilizes lead solder , then you are looking at serious lead poisoning.
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