M
[email protected]
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
Hi all,
first of all, sorry if my English is far from perfect: it's not my native
tongue. Anyway, here we go:
I built myself a reflow oven from a modified / power-increased toaster
oven and a self built controller. I'd like to make small runs of boards.
Everything looks fine (temperature can go up quickly enough to follow
the profile, etc..) but.. I got a big disappointment when I discovered
the solder paste is so hard to work with! First I had one more than one
year old, so I thought it was "expired", but it's the same also with a
freshly bought one.
I tried both RS Components 184-9985 and 551-693, and both give me the
same problem: the paste is so "viscous" that even if I push the plunger
VERY hard I cannot see anything but a tiny amount of the paste coming
out of the needle (and I'm using a type which is not even that small!),
and it's also very hard to dose it for 0603 SMD pads, etc.. because it
sticks to the needle rather than to the PCB.
I'm quite desperate, I did a lot of work to get this thing (reflow oven)
to work, I dream to design and make electronic boards for a living, and
now the whole system seems flawed because of this hard-to-handle solder
paste, making it totally unpractical (hours and hours just to put the
paste on the pads of a very small board, no thanks!).
I know there are laser cut stencils and squeegees, but that's not really
the road I'd like to follow, because I often have very small boards and
lotsa different prototypes to test / work with.
I'd just like to see an easier solder paste to work with. I've seen this
web page http://www.seattlerobotics.org/encoder/200006/oven_art.htm where
the paste the authors use look so much different than the two products I
have (which look grey and totally opaque).
However, I've read elsewhere that water-soluble solder paste must be
absolutely avoided, because it's crap crap crap (sorry, I have lost the
URL), is it true? Why?
Can you suggest a suitable product for me to try, which can be quickly
delivered to Italy (for obvious (refridgement) reasons)? I guess that
means either RS Components, Farnell or Distrelec only, since I don't
know of any other important distributor which has a base also in Italy.
If the problem is viscosity, which values (in poise) should I look for
for good/easy hand dispensing?
Thank you very much for any help and for your patience in reading this.
Mario
first of all, sorry if my English is far from perfect: it's not my native
tongue. Anyway, here we go:
I built myself a reflow oven from a modified / power-increased toaster
oven and a self built controller. I'd like to make small runs of boards.
Everything looks fine (temperature can go up quickly enough to follow
the profile, etc..) but.. I got a big disappointment when I discovered
the solder paste is so hard to work with! First I had one more than one
year old, so I thought it was "expired", but it's the same also with a
freshly bought one.
I tried both RS Components 184-9985 and 551-693, and both give me the
same problem: the paste is so "viscous" that even if I push the plunger
VERY hard I cannot see anything but a tiny amount of the paste coming
out of the needle (and I'm using a type which is not even that small!),
and it's also very hard to dose it for 0603 SMD pads, etc.. because it
sticks to the needle rather than to the PCB.
I'm quite desperate, I did a lot of work to get this thing (reflow oven)
to work, I dream to design and make electronic boards for a living, and
now the whole system seems flawed because of this hard-to-handle solder
paste, making it totally unpractical (hours and hours just to put the
paste on the pads of a very small board, no thanks!).
I know there are laser cut stencils and squeegees, but that's not really
the road I'd like to follow, because I often have very small boards and
lotsa different prototypes to test / work with.
I'd just like to see an easier solder paste to work with. I've seen this
web page http://www.seattlerobotics.org/encoder/200006/oven_art.htm where
the paste the authors use look so much different than the two products I
have (which look grey and totally opaque).
However, I've read elsewhere that water-soluble solder paste must be
absolutely avoided, because it's crap crap crap (sorry, I have lost the
URL), is it true? Why?
Can you suggest a suitable product for me to try, which can be quickly
delivered to Italy (for obvious (refridgement) reasons)? I guess that
means either RS Components, Farnell or Distrelec only, since I don't
know of any other important distributor which has a base also in Italy.
If the problem is viscosity, which values (in poise) should I look for
for good/easy hand dispensing?
Thank you very much for any help and for your patience in reading this.
Mario