I was a backer for the ReflowR computer controlled SMD hot plate a few years ago. I had to cough up a little extra for shipping because the creator munged up his figures and didn't leave enough for shipping, and was selling the things on Tindie to build up cash to send units to his backers -- which caused people to get really cheesed off at him. I did get my ReflowR, however, one with built in Wi-Fi for control with an app, or it has a bunch of preconfigured profiles in it for most reflow jobs. This was before ovens like the one you got were available so cheap, so there's only a LITTLE buyer's remorse.
It DOES work pretty well, though. Combined with my I-Extruder pen for applying solder paste, it makes SMD work much easier. The I-Extruder can be used as a vacuum pick-and-place tool as well, or for applying flux in controlled amounts. Since I don't work a lot with SMD yet, I use it for applying Amtech Tacky Flux (Thank you, Louis Rossmann!) to my thru-hole components for good soldering with much less flux application mess. I also have one of those cheap Chinese WEP hot air reflow stations. Cost me $60 on Amazon, and it works like a champ. I use it primarily for heat-shrink, though. Used with that marine-grade heat shrink that's lined with hot glue, it's a total wizard's tool. 73, Gwen, NG3P On Sun, Oct 20, 2019 at 7:01 PM Mark Goldberg <marklgoldb...@gmail.com> wrote: > I have a well used hot air gun (OK Industries SMT-1160) but I use my Metcal > iron and hot tweezers a lot more. They have an infinite selection of tips > for almost anything. They are expensive though, even used. > > For us old farts with unsteady hands and bad eyes, a vacuum pickup, lots of > tweezers and a binocular microscope are a huge help. A flux bottle with a > dispensing needle tip and a bottle of Isopropyl Alcohol are musts too. I > have some tiny solder, solder wick and solder paste for my reflow oven. The > reflow oven is the bees knees if you are building a lot. > > Youth and delicate hands also helps, I have neither but I get by. > > Look at my qrz.com page for my setup and links to more info. > > 73, > > Mark > W7MLG > > > On Sun, Oct 20, 2019 at 12:33 PM Dauer, Edward <eda...@law.du.edu> wrote: > > > I am thinking about trying my hand at building a kit with a bunch of > > SMDs. I don’t yet know the gauge. Any suggestions about the brand or > type > > of hot air soldering gun I should buy? Any other tools I’ll need, like > > narrow-gauge solder, wicks, whatever? > > > > Thanks, > > > > Ted, KN1CBR > > > > ______________________________________________________________ > > Elecraft mailing list > > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > > Message delivered to marklgoldb...@gmail.com > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > Message delivered to ard...@gmail.com -- -+-+-+-+- Jenny Everywhere's Infinite: Quark Time http://quarktime.net ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
