SMD reflow ovens

[Corporate666]

In the meantime, I saw something online where a guy tested lots of toaster ovens, and a DeLonghi brand model-whatever had a heating profile that was very close to a reflow oven.  I bought a few of them.

Could you provide some more details - model number or pics etc.?

I checked my records... looks like I bought several of them back in early 2007.  DeLonghi Airstream AS690 Convection Toaster Oven.

Looks like it's out of production now.  I don't remember where I found the review - I just remember it was a website of a guy who had a pretty disheveled workbench that looked to be in his garage.  But he had tested lots of different toaster ovens and found this one had the closest heating profile to a "real" profile of a PCB oven.

We must have run tens of thousands of boards through this... never a problem.

I have tried a few others and my experience was that firstly you don't want IR, and secondly you need a relatively powerful oven.  Some of them struggle to get up to a sufficient temperature to melt solder (leaded solder in my case - lead free would be worse).  You also very much want a convection oven.

[amiq]

Thanks for that.  I don't think these Airstream ovens were ever marketed in the UK, which is a shame since they do look as if they are ideal for reflow work.  I'll have to have a poke around the white goods retailers  to see if there is anything similar on the market at the moment.

[Corporate666]

Thanks for that.  I don't think these Airstream ovens were ever marketed in the UK, which is a shame since they do look as if they are ideal for reflow work.  I'll have to have a poke around the white goods retailers  to see if there is anything similar on the market at the moment.

Over the years, I've tried lots of toaster ovens that I've gotten at various home centers.  I've never had a problem with any of them (in terms of board failures).  The only traits I have noticed are important are high power (or perhaps good insulation - it needs to be able to get to reflow temperature... some of them I've tried take seemingly forever to reach reflow temp, either due to being underpowered or not being well insulated and the heat escaping before temps rise enough).  The other important factor is convection.

An internal light is very nice to have, if available.

I think if you get any powerful unit with convection, it will work fine.  It's really not very critical at all as long as you keep an eye on the solder to catch when it reflows, then maybe 10-20 seconds more, turn off the power and open the door.  That's my process - works great.