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Hot Air Soldering...Hack Job with a Hardware Store Heat Gun

Usually I hot plate my boards but so happens I own a variable temp /variable cfm Milwaukee heat gun. Just like this one.

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It hasn't burnt the place down yet. :( Anyways.. Has anyone done total board smd hot air soldering with a hardware store heat gun? Due to the big nozzle, I figure that everything will get soldered with a few waves. I'm tempted to give it a try..

When I do hot plating it tends to discolour the board a bit :( Functional...but not pretty.

I find it a pita to hold down 1206 resistors with a stick to solder them with a soldering pen. (I suspect I pick 1206 just so I can do that easier.)

btw.. I've noticed the hot air rework stations on ebay go for about $100US. However, I need total soldering. (No..I'm not buying a toaster oven.)

D from BC Amateur smps designer British Columbia, Canada Posted to sci.electronics.design

Reply to
D from BC
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A hot air gun will do that too, although you may have better luck with a hot plate running as well to preheat everything. I've used a hot air gun for desoldering but not for soldering. Maybe you could rig up an enclosure where the hot air gun just provided the heat input rather than directly blowing on the board?

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John Devereux
Reply to
John Devereux

I've done both using a cheap hot air gun. Its very convenient for removing multi lead components without causing PCB damage. A hot air pen is better for sot32 style chips. Fitting a new device is simply applying flux paste to the pins on the chip and sitting it back on the board before heating. I use a retort stand to support the PCB over the hot air gun. Components on both sides of a board are a pain particularly if they are under or close to the device you want to remove and replace. One difficulty is components that are glued down. It can prove difficult to break the glue bond.

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Best Regards:
                     Baron.
Reply to
Baron

It'll still discolour the board.. Bummer :(

I'll try preheating on hot plate + hot air soldering on my next project. Will post photo if parts get blown off the board :P

Reply to
D from BC

The guys at Sparkfun.com did a nice little test of reflow technologies and it turns out an electric skillet worked just fine.

Reply to
T

Yup.. Similarly I've soldered boards on metal plates on a electric kitchen stove. Element 1 plate is preheat. Element 2 is solder.

Reply to
D from BC

ire-4464/

I've done it for desoldering as well. The only constructive purpose I've used it for, I think, is ghetto Hot Air Leveling (heat board, wipe off excess solder with rag!), and annealing the board so it's not so damn warped (the 0.03" stock I have is realllly thin for anything wider than an inch).

Tim

Reply to
Tim Williams

one.http://www.aboutlawsuits.com/heat-gun-recall-risk-of-fire-4464/

Is that also called 'tinning' ?

Reply to
D from BC

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