Reflowing first board with IR oven
Popped a couple caps on a qfp proto board and started a reflow cycle. Dry run went OK. Unit was dropped pretty bad. Frame is out of whack and drawer bent. Seems to still work. Not sure if damage is shipping or existing as I didnt have time to test and inspect in the market. Shame on me. Still seems to work. Much like the t9xx units the timer does seem to be a little slow compared to a stopwatch.
This entry was posted in tools and tagged reflow oven.
Comments
Ian;
Wow looks nice. Does it come with a USB port so that you can upload new settings?
How are the fumes coming out the back tolerable or do you need to extract it out a window?
No USB port, but setting can be programmed easily with the menu. There are supposed to be several profiles but I only see default and “repair”.
I guess it’s revenge from transportcompany due to your rocks ;)
fortunately everything is in its own box, so the bricks I just left downstairs to hold the door open for the next delivery :)
It’s guarding the door, it’s a ‘Guard Rock’
I have read a bit about those t962 ovens, and heard that they have lot of fumes, but mostly because of bad design inside it, tape in wrong places and such?
Also, that some of them are using an atmel avr cpu, and that the timer/code seems to be not so good, 7 minutes takes 12 minutes and so on.
Have anyone been thinkering with these units?, the base unit itself seems to be nice (well, not yours that is damaged), but it could be nice to use as basis for modifications of software, ventilation, and so on?
Yeah I was concerned about a few things based on reviews of T962s:
1. Fumes- none that I can detect. Just using it inside with the window open. Construction, especially tiling and insolation, seem to be better than T962s I saw across from the Qinsi stand.
2. Timer – I’m using the default profile (only profile, though there are supposed to be 9) that goes 150 @60s, 200 @ 90s, and 240 @ 20s then cools down. These are 4s/9s/2s longer than my stopwatch timed them (eg 150 @ 64s, 200 @99s, 240 @ 22s).
3. Heat – many report that T962 is not hot enough. Mine has thermocouple hanging over drawer, I’m not sure about T962. It did get hot enough with this default profile to reflow well.
I think the heating problem is mostly due to no heat under, maybe there should be some heatingpan under to heat up the board a bit in the start, before the IR takes over?
Someone made an extra/better vent here:
http://www.briandorey.com/post/T-962-Infrared-Reflow-Oven-Vent-Hack.aspx
This thread have some good information about the 962:
https://forum.sparkfun.com/viewtopic.php?t=16824
One comments about what he removed/changed inside it, one comments about the problems with the controls, lack of debounching, heating times, and so on.
Due to the cheap price on these, it’s very tempting as an starting project for hacking.
Well, lots of people are already using them as is, so they can’t be that bad, but controlling it from laptop, and logging could be nice to have.
Ok figured out the heating profiles.
When you first start the machine it is in chinese. To configure turn off, then hold RUN and press the on/off button. Now you can set english and graphic/text display mode. If you choose graphic, it then gives choice of 6 heating profiles. Seems like a stupid way to do it since customization happens in the normal menu, but I guess if you don;t want your factory people messing with it maybe it is good to hide it there.
Scanning the manual because pages are all out of order, will post it up.
btw, I found this on hackaday:
http://www.billporter.info/2013/01/29/our-geeky-wedding-diy-electronic-wedding-invitations/
That silouette machine can cut various types of material, i wonder.. can that cut some film/kapton or something to make your own stencils??
Posted a scan of the manual in the forum:
http://dangerousprototypes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=5118#p49375
From what I see on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country China’s mains power is 50Hz.
North America’s is 60Hz.
Maybe there is another hidden setting for the AC power frequency to correct the timers?
I’m using 230/50Hz so that should be ok, but I also doubt the timer is tied to the lines. It certainly has a uC and probably a 32.768KHz crystal for time keeping. Though given the +seconds/minute, they might just be estimating from the main crystal oscillator.
Also, the 7 minutes=12minutes I hear about the T962 – I’m starting to think it might be due to a misunderstanding of the reflow profile, but am not sure.
How long time before there is an full schematics of the oven out here? ;)