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I purchased a Weller reflow set

Jan Cumps

The title says it all. I have a Weller solder station. They have IC reflow gizmos that work together with its hot air gun.

image
image source: sinuss.nl, the element14 retailer in Belgium and the Netherlands

These are little ovens, that you put on top of the IC you want to rework. Then you put the hot air pencil inside, to flow the solder.
There's a chip lifter (think: coal mine headframe) that can then lift the IC.
It can also be used to place ICs. Should help me with BGA designs.

It may be over-fancy. Paul Daniels and Louis Rossmann do all of this with just a heat gun. But I'm not that skilled - don't do it enough to be repeatedly successful.
My kit is also expensive. The one I bought, with support for 10x10 mm to 33x33 mm (with 6 steps in between), costs 500 €. An amount that I do not easily give away for tools.

Here's a video from Weller:

I have now burned my budget for the next two years (three years actually, but last year I didn't buy anything). It 'd better work as promised.
Send me your old PCBs, so that I can practice.

Parents

  • Customer Action Video:

    The video is real time, raw footage. No comments or talk.

    End result: no pads ripped, no pins bent.

    image image

  • in reply to Jan Cumps

    The video shows the overall process pretty well Jan: how is that actually working?  The cube just provides a container over the part but not a seal so it could work with larger parts?  Is the vacuum lifter running all the time so you know when its unsoldered when?  How does it avoid lifting other parts that are nearby, e.g. a small decoupling capacitor?  

    I assume the process to solder a part is pretty much the same but without the vacuum lifter obviously - it would be interesting to see you desolder that IC back on to the board.

    Looks like a neat tool and saves the wand-waving and tweezer pressure I have to do to desolder a part.

  • in reply to Andrew J

    Olalaa, many questions, and I only have a sample of one: this video was my first attempt, and it's still the only test I did.

    Andrew J said:
    Looks like a neat tool and saves the wand-waving and tweezer pressure I have to do to desolder a part.

    That. You don't have to wave-and-prodd, then flip the IC off its place. 

    Andrew J said:
    how is that actually working?  The cube just provides a container over the part

    Yes, a very loose box over the IC, but good enough to keep all that heat contained in that area.

    Andrew J said:
    not a seal so it could work with larger parts?

    It's not sealed, but can't be used with larger parts, I think - in a reasonable way.

    Andrew J said:
    Is the vacuum lifter running all the time so you know when its unsoldered when?

    yes, it's a light vacuum - pick-and-place kind of power. The lifter is spring charged. You bring it down, and it sucks on to the IC.
    Then there's a little ring that you push down (not a seal, just a visual token). Once the part has been unsoldered and sucked up, you can see that because the ring moved higher up. I don't think this is a critical function. You also see and hear the part being lifted.

    Andrew J said:
    How does it avoid lifting other parts that are nearby, e.g. a small decoupling capacitor?

    The suction cup sits on the IC, and it's lifted by a spring mechanism once it's unsoldered.

    Andrew J said:
    I assume the process to solder a part is pretty much the same but without the vacuum lifter obviously - it would be interesting to see you desolder that IC back on to the board.

    I don't know yet if it 'll help a lot with that. You obviously can't use the pick-up tool, because the IC is supposed to stay on the board :). The little containers may help to keep the heat focused - but then: you don't see what's happening.
    I'll only know that part once I tried ...

  • in reply to Jan Cumps

    Yes, sorry, quite a few questions, I was just interested in it.  I shall await further videos.  The vacuum lifter is great: very often I use the hot air gun, get the part desoldered and then right at the last moment a pin gets re-soldered just before I get it out of the way.

    Incidentally, is that the official French or Flemish spelling?  We would write Ooh la la! in English. I wonder if culturally it has different meanings as well: 

    • Blimey! (the way you use it); 
    • Ooh, that's nice;
    • Look at you, you flash @£$%@3. 

    Take your pick, depending upon context Grinning

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