Baku 601D hot air reflow station - warning

Typical Chinese junk - Amazon or eBay sourced I'm sure. You can't assume that even if it has a CSA or UL imprint/label that it actually is electrically safe as many of the labels are faked. Neither Amazon nor eBay are responsible for the safety of products sold through their portals, how did that happen?

This is just a (cheap) time bomb waiting to go off - all the countless Chinese (etc.) made electrical junk.

Back in the late 40s CSA and UL got their main boost from commercial TVs that exploded into flames.

It shouldn't be too long now before it all starts happening again. Deregulation at its finest!

John :-#(#

"Pay s*it, get s*it."

When I started working in a TV shop in the mid '60s, every bench had a s witch to shut off all power. It had two intended uses. A way to kill a benc h if someone was being shocked or something was arching, and to turn off ev erything when the bench wasn't being used. They were mounted on the ends of the benches, where there was nothing to block access. My shop has each lig ht fixture on its own switch, so all the tools and test equipment are power ed down when I leave and turn out the lights. All of these are switched by the main door, so they are easy to get to.

This is similar to the General Electric switches we used back in the '60 s. They can be padlocked if you don't want anyone to use the bench when you aren't there.

The original fault was due to a fan speed control circuit failure, shorting a low-power secondary transformer winding.

This would have been simply repairable, with a separate properly-sized primary fuse for the transformer.

It would not have occurred, unattended, with a proper line power switch.

RL

switch to shut off all power. It had two intended uses. A way to kill a be nch if someone was being shocked or something was arching, and to turn off everything when the bench wasn't being used. They were mounted on the ends of the benches, where there was nothing to block access. My shop has each l ight fixture on its own switch, so all the tools and test equipment are pow ered down when I leave and turn out the lights. All of these are switched b y the main door, so they are easy to get to.

Yep, this was standard arrangement for my dads shop...Along with a number o f isolation transformers as needed.

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I certainly needed one of them back in 1980 when I worked for Allen Wright Electronics, in Sydney.

Many times when I arrived, the was somebody at my bench using all my stuff and refusing to leave. We had a physical fight one morning when I had to pull the stubborn idiot out of my seat.

His name was Joe Rasmussen, the boss was Allen Wright.

You can Google their names.

Both were Scientologist - I was not.

Explains a great deal ...

.... Phil

This bench HAS a power switch. Unfortunately, it has to be on, to run anything.

You can't shut it off as a prevention for a soldering station to spontaneously go up in smoke. You CAN turn it off, if there's something burning on the bench.

This is also hooked up to a dead man harness. . . . but then that's probably too late. Power labs are advisedly no-lone-operator environments.

Best to restrict line-powered tools to those with safety approvals.

RL

Or at least make sure they are properly fused. I bought one of those hea t sealers for plastic bags last year. It didn't work, so I opened it up Bot h wires to the spring loaded power switch had cold solder joints and one ha d cracked off in shipping. I always look into the design of imported equipm ent to look for safety hazards. Just because a case has some safety stick o n it doesn't mean that it was properly built in a foreign factory.

We had a new employee miswire the IEC power connector on a chassis. She had the AC line connected to the chassis, and the ground wire connected wrong as well. The tech who knew better plugged it in without looking at the wiri ng. When it didn't turn on, He leaned over to look into the chassis as he t ouched the chassis and a grounded piece of test equipment. H got a really n asty shock that he could have avoided. If it hadn't knocked him on his ass, it could have killed him.

I notice that newer versions of the 601D are provided with a 3-wire line cord.

That might be a good start, if they could only remember to stick the fuse in the color-coded live wire, not the neutral.

It could be a good product as, when reconfigured, it still does the job. As is, it's just dangerous.

RL

heat sealers for plastic bags last year. It didn't work, so I opened it up Both wires to the spring loaded power switch had cold solder joints and one had cracked off in shipping. I always look into the design of imported equ ipment to look for safety hazards. Just because a case has some safety stic k on it doesn't mean that it was properly built in a foreign factory.

had the AC line connected to the chassis, and the ground wire connected wro ng as well. The tech who knew better plugged it in without looking at the w iring. When it didn't turn on, He leaned over to look into the chassis as h e touched the chassis and a grounded piece of test equipment. H got a reall y nasty shock that he could have avoided. If it hadn't knocked him on his a ss, it could have killed him.

Then fix it!

See OP.

RL