Hot Air Station suggestions?

Question

Hi All,

I find myself wanting to do more surface mount work.

While a toaster oven works pretty good for the whole board, I would like to try a hot air station.

After looking at a Weller station at over $700 US, then looking at $50 stations on E-bay,

I would like to hear from some actual users and their experiences and recommendations.

So what is a reasonable brand of hot air station that will last for several years and not break the bank.

(I.e. under $200US would be nice.)

Thanks,

Al

COMPACT · Answer

One of the most time consuming parts about SMT is component placement. This is how to do it easily yourself.

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There. A thousand times easier!

mcb1 · Answer

I have the same unit as kas.lewis referred to Tenma 21-10130 21-10130 it has the cutoff feature when you place the handpiece down, and the picture doesn't show it, but includes a temperature controlled soldering iron. I've stopped using my Wellers and use this as the main soldering iron now. I haven't had any issues. The other item to add to your wish list is a preheater. http://www.newark.com/tenma/21-19640/quartz-preheater/dp/47Y6405 It acts to bring the board up to temperature before adding the rework gun to melt the solder. Mark

Jan Cumps · Answer

I'm using that Tenma pre-heater too (thank you Shabaz) when using hot air. I put on paste and place components with the board on the switched-off heater. When all is placed I turn it to 120 degrees for a few minutes, then start reflowing with hot air.

mcb1 · Answer

The rework machine at work is Infrared based. It can even do pick and place, but the price tag is a little beyond any hobbyist. It surprises me that we aren't seeing more Infrared preheaters, like this has. It seems to me that this is a few rows of elements, that you turn on or off depending on the size and amount of heat required. Maybe someone need to build one of these types of preheater. Mark

COMPACT · Answer

It's nice to know that some of you have heeded my advice and use preheaters. Don't forget about the flux or flux paste! Merry Xmas!!

kas.lewis · Answer

I was looking for the same sort of solution. I ended up going with this from Tenma because it was under $150 . The only down side I have with it the cabe to the iron, it's a bit stiff and so has a different feel than what yo get from a Weller. Other than that I have been happy with it Kas

rachaelp · Answer

I have a 24V heated bed PCB I designed for a 3D printer attached to a spare metal shelf from my Rayburn oven. I use my meaty 420W power supply with a 4-wire connection to ensure the heater gets the full 24V. I paste up the board and place the components along with a thermocouple an put this on top of the plate then switch on and cover with an insulated cover to increase the heating speed. Once it’s been soaked at 110-120C for a few minutes, off comes the cover and out comes either the hot air pencil or my main iron. This technique helps a lot with regular soldering too if you have lots of planes in a board and components without thermal relief connecting to them. You do have to be careful not to frazzle yourself on anything though! Best Regards, Rachael

COMPACT · Answer

Although out of your price range. For hot air I use a JBC Air Tool. It has thermal profiling output and does a fabulous job. For IR I use a PDR ChipTool. It does a fabulous job for small BGAs. As Scotty Montgomery says - "Use the right tool for the right job!" When using cheaper tools you'll find that the temperature regulation is absent and risk burning things and causing unwanted collateral damage.

michaelkellett · Answer

I've always fancied these things: PCB Pre-heaters. Preheat for SMT, SMD, BGA. Lead-Free Solder Preheaters. Rework Pre-heat. Not very cheap (but competitive with Weller and the like) but they look as if they're pretty focused on what they do. MK

Robert Peter Oakes · Answer

I have the Weller WXR 3000 workstation that includes Hot Air rework and it is awesome, but as you say, it is very expensive WXR3003 - WELLER - Rework Station, Multifunctional, 450 °C, 120 V | Newark element14 , you can get the various parts separately and that will be way less money, for instance, just the Hot Air. I produced a few videos on it (Sorry but mine was sponsored to me by Weller themselves along with RS-Components, so RS Logos are in the video) but you can also get this from Element 14 using the link above.

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What I think is important to look out for is the following The FAN for the hot air is in the base, not the pencil, this makes it easier to wield and typically gives better range of Air flow. It is all too easy to simply blow away the part you're trying to re-work if the flow is too high. To go with this you also need a good range of temperature, especially if you also consider Lead Free Solder and big pads that double as heat dissipators.I have also a cheap EBAY Atten/SEIK that works but is very temperamental with the Fan and will change speed as I rotate the hot air pencil. Now that i have tried the Weller, I see why paying more for good quality German Engineering is worth it. As a separate note. I have been using the same Weller Iron for close to 40 years and it is still going strong, paid more for it of course but never needed to buy another for all this time. Lets hope the new one will last as long.

jw0752 · Answer

Hi James, My unit runs on 120 volts just fine. Once I closed the case and stopped looking at the solder job it has continued to work well and properly. I have had it for about three years now and I have had no problems. Yours will probably have a better solder job than mined did as I can't believe things could have gotten worse. John

jbundock · Answer

Thanks John, I was weirded out by the "100V" spec on the Newark site. As long as it has a USA plug like yours I'm all set. I'm hopeful the workmanship has improved, but I'll take a peek. I tried looking everywhere to verify that the thing I ordered had a US plug, but to my chagrin, I discovered the manufacturer uses the same part number for the 220V unit so I thought wow, will this one be Japanese (100VAC)? I wish they'd show a picture of the back or have a spec sheet that is actually a spec sheet, or put the manual online (the Temna website is useless). Oh well, I feel a little better now that it I know it is almost certainly going to have a US power plug. Thanks again.

Hot Air Station suggestions?

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