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Experiences with Pre-Heater - I'm Looking to Buy

Andrew J

I'm looking to buy a pre-heater to help with SMD soldering and rework, although mostly the former, and I'm interested in others experiences with these.  A lot of the heaters at my end of the budget are IR based which seems to be ok but may be impacted by reflectivity of boards/parts (I wonder how well they work with white PCBs.)  So far, the PCBs I've had made up are 100mmx100mm although one has been 140mmx1  The choices seem to be to spend a fantastic amount on a 'known' brand or rather less on one of the fairly common cheaper Chinese brands. 

 

What I'm not interested in is:

  • any sort of DIY solution.
  • anything that has a reputation for needed fixing on arrival.
  • an oven.

 

I seem to be homing in on the following:

 

Metcal PCT-100Metcal PCT-100: well known brand and not overly expensive.  Doesn't specify board size but looks like it may allow for 200mm x 100mm based on product dimensions.  It does say it is a 'focussed' heater which implies to me that it targets a small part of the underside of a board placed directly above the heater element so I don't know how good it would be at heating the overall board without overheating one specific spot.  All the marketing blurb shows very small PCBs being used.  There was a 'review' on YouTube but it wasn't a particularly useful one.

 

The bigger brother, Metcal PCT-1000Metcal PCT-1000, looks very useful but is really expensive.  Could form part of a larger soldering solution with other Metcal devices but I don't really need them right now.  If Element14 want to donate in return for a review then I could manage that image image

 

Aoyue Int883: a cheaper brand that makes a number of different soldering stations but the quality may be a bit suspect - I saw a YouTube video about a different pre-heater of theirs that came damaged.  Hardly statistically relevant, Digikey sell it if that means anything, and it does have a number of different operating modes and looks like it would be well controlled with three thermocouples.  Would take any board size I have.

 

Quick 870ESD: again, a cheaper brand and this one purports to reflow as well (not too bothered about that.)  Same sort of brand as Aoyue, more expensive and seems less controllable.

 

I don't think I could leave this post without an honourable mention to Zephyrtronics for their retro-industrial air-baths and a website built in the 1990s!  These look like good units but verging on the too expensive but the compact size may be worth considering.

 

Others I've looked at have been stupidly expensive or have very small heating areas.  So I seem to be leaning towards the Aoyue model but if anyone has alternative suggestions or use the Metcal PCT-100 then I'd definitely want to hear about it.

Parents

  • If your goal is to use it as a pre-heater - to aid the hot-air gun, you don't need a lot.

    I use a Tenma Mini SMD Preheater. Kindly sent to me by Shabaz image.

    This is a small device but can pre-heat a decent board.

    image

     

    It makes a big difference if you have to get heat from 20° to 350, or from 120° to 350°. Everything works way smoother.

     

    How I work for pre-heating (I use lead-free):

    • I put the board above the heater, set it to 100°.
      Usually I prepare my work while it's warming up. If it gets to hot for my hands I switch it off for a little while.
    • When I'm ready to use the gun, I put it between 150 and 200.
    • When finished, I switch of the heater but leave the power on. The fan helps with cooling.

     

    When dealing with double sided, I usually keep it at 100 ° and deal with it. Still better than no pre-heat.

     

    When dealing with a difficult IC or FET, with big ground plane that needs to set:

    • I do the same as above, but with the heater outlet aimed at the location of the component.
    • When ready, I push up the temperature to what makes sense for the job, and attack the component with the gun at the same time.

     

    I mentioned this before on the forum: I practice a lot with scrap PCBs.

    You learn what works and not for you. At what temperature the PCB delaminates or loses pads. At what settings components spontaneously drop from the underside.

    You learn the sounds and smells.

     

    Once you have been in a situation where placing or removing an IC took uncomfortably long time, you'll notice that having a pre-heater is a great asset.

  • in reply to Jan Cumps

    Thanks Jan.  Do you have a model number for that, or a picture of the top.  How do you think it compares, size-wise and outlet-wise, to the PCT-100 I mention above?  What's the biggest boards have you pre-heated with it?

  • in reply to Andrew J

    TENMA 2064552, no longer made, but the Aoyue 853 is virtually identical.

     

    Foto of the top. On an A4 page for scale:

    image

    Measurements:

    image

     

    I don't know the exact measures of the biggest board. Approx: 1/3 of the height of an A4 page, width of an A4 page.

    edit: it says: 540 W

  • in reply to Jan Cumps

    Useful to know, thanks - that would be 100mm x 210mm so a pretty big PCB.  I guess you mostly do smaller sized boards though - do you find that it brings the whole pcb upto temperature without a hot spot above the outlet? 

     

    The PCT-100 is 205x155 so slightly bigger. Although it doesn't give dimensions of the heating area it looks to about 2/3rds so approx 135mm; it's also 450W so a little less powerful.

Reply
  • in reply to Jan Cumps

    Useful to know, thanks - that would be 100mm x 210mm so a pretty big PCB.  I guess you mostly do smaller sized boards though - do you find that it brings the whole pcb upto temperature without a hot spot above the outlet? 

     

    The PCT-100 is 205x155 so slightly bigger. Although it doesn't give dimensions of the heating area it looks to about 2/3rds so approx 135mm; it's also 450W so a little less powerful.

Children
  • in reply to Andrew J

    I guess you mostly do smaller sized boards though

    Yes. My typical boards are very small. A few cm². Rarely larger than 10 cm².

    Not all easy though - 4 layers with copper planes all layers.

    The example below is an example with four layers with fill areas on each. QFN IC with a ground plane and a chunky (for SMD) inductor with the pads underneath:

      imageimage

    Bigger boards are usually things from someone else I help with (or scrap for practice,  like defect monitor PCBs)

     

    do you find that it brings the whole pcb upto temperature without a hot spot above the outlet?

    The spot above the heater is warmer, yes.

    But I only wick it up that it is a hotspot if I want it to be a hotspot.

    When I let it simmer on 120° for 10 minutes the whole PCB has that temperature.

    I'm really talking from a practical point of view, as a user who does not put temperature sensors at the edges. I use experience and the feel you get from trying.

     

    At the start I was nervous about SMD reflow and I thought it was an exact discipline. Ramp up curves, cool down times, right paste.

    A friend in the business learned me some practical tips for a reflow oven:

    By a second hand little electric kitchen oven. The cheaper the better.

    Put the board in. Set on max.

    Watch through the window.

    See smoke? Open the door. Finished.

  • in reply to Jan Cumps

    That made me laugh!!

     

    That's really useful info, thanks Jan.  Looks like the PCT-100 could be a contender then, I shall keep investigating.

     

    I find myself making more 4-layer boards than 2-layer as they are so cheap and so much easier to route.

  • in reply to Jan Cumps

      wrote:

     

    ...

    The example below is an example with four layers with fill areas on each. QFN IC with a ground plane and a chunky (for SMD) inductor with the pads underneath:

      imageimage

     

    Self promo: It's a switch-mode power design - a GaN FET half bridge, switching at 1 MHz, 10 ns dead-band.

    An exercise to make a PCB with a "critical" feedback loop, following manufacturer's application note and gerbers as a reference: Hercules LaunchPad and GaN FETs - Part 3b: BoosterPack Layout - my version

  • in reply to Jan Cumps

    I see that was some time ago now.  You'll be glad to know that JLCPCB will manufacture five 4-layer PCBs up to 100mmx100mm for £5.85 (€6.59) + delivery.  Crazy cheap.

  • in reply to Andrew J

      wrote:

     

    I see that was some time ago now.  ...

    Yes, I designed most of the board at the time that Brussels was in the grip of the terror attacks and its aftermath. It's linked to that era in my memories.

    I'd like to use it in this month's project 14, as the output stage of a class-D amp.