Reflow Oven Controllers
Posted: 26 November 2007, 16:31 PM
Manually soldering surface mount parts has been getting a bit tedious recently. Even with the hot-air station and vision enhancement, it's just too time consuming. In an effort to put together a workable reflow oven for less than the thousands of dollars that a real one costs, I've been doing some searching.
There have been quite a few articles floating about the internet about building controllers, toaster ovens, hot plates, and blow torches. I was about to buy a controller from SparkFun for about $90, but it didn't include any of the ancillary bits and peices required to make it functional, nor did it come with code to run it. There are a handful of other 'project' style controllers out there as well, which I looked into also. One for sale on eBay did look promising, as it came with a windows application to control it. At $60, it seems to be a better deal.
Then I stumbled on this . While still $90, the thermocouple (available from the same company) is only $6.50, and the SSR is a paltry $15. I like the idea of a standalone controller. I also like the fact that I can probably cram it all into my doner toaster oven.
I'm curious if anyone has used one of these. My biggest reservation, after reading the specifications, is that the timing is programmable only in minutes. I wonder if that will make it unfit for my purpose. Perhaps the eBay controller with other pieces from Auber Instruments is the way to go.
-Don
There have been quite a few articles floating about the internet about building controllers, toaster ovens, hot plates, and blow torches. I was about to buy a controller from SparkFun for about $90, but it didn't include any of the ancillary bits and peices required to make it functional, nor did it come with code to run it. There are a handful of other 'project' style controllers out there as well, which I looked into also. One for sale on eBay did look promising, as it came with a windows application to control it. At $60, it seems to be a better deal.
Then I stumbled on this . While still $90, the thermocouple (available from the same company) is only $6.50, and the SSR is a paltry $15. I like the idea of a standalone controller. I also like the fact that I can probably cram it all into my doner toaster oven.
I'm curious if anyone has used one of these. My biggest reservation, after reading the specifications, is that the timing is programmable only in minutes. I wonder if that will make it unfit for my purpose. Perhaps the eBay controller with other pieces from Auber Instruments is the way to go.
-Don