Re: [Xylo-SDR] Toaster oven

[Philip Covington <p.covington@gmail.com>]

Before I'd waste the time and money on modifying a toaster oven and
buying the solder paste (which is quite expensive) I would invest in a
stereo boom arm microscope with about 10x magnification.  That,
combined with a nice small soldering iron tip, will allow you to
easily solder the 0.5 mm pitch parts.  You can get a brand new boom
arm microscope with light and 8" working distance for about $250.

See my blog for more info: http://pcovington.blogspot.com/

You still need to be able to inspect your solder joints if you use the
toaster method anyhow... the microscope does double duty as an
inspection scope here...

Now, for BGA's, the microscope won't help you.  Take a look at
SparkFun.com for info on his shop...  He uses a hot plate and it is
superior to the toaster oven method in many ways.  He explains why... 
Good reading...

73 de Phil

On 1/11/06, Ahti Aintila <ahti@attocon.com> wrote:
> This link might be useful for home brewers:
> http://www.seattlerobotics.org/encoder/200006/oven_art.htm
>
> 73, Ahti OH2RZ
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Leon Heller" <leon.heller@bulldoghome.com>
> To: "Xylo-SDR Discussion" <xylo-sdr@lists.ae5k.us>
> Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 2:30 PM
> Subject: [Xylo-SDR] LTC2208
>
>
> > I've just ordered a couple of samples of the LTC2208. As has been
> > said, it
> > does look like a better chip than the ADI one, if a bit more
> > expensive. The
> > QFN package is harder to work with, but a company I know will assemble
> > them
> > for me quite cheaply. They actually mounted some smaller QFN
> > accelerometer
> > chips for me for nothing, just before Xmas, as I'd driven a long way
> > to
> > them, and they only took them 30 minutes. I've actually bought a very
> > cheap
> > toaster oven for this sort of assembly, but I need to build a
> > controller for
> > it to get the right temperature profile.
> >
> > Don't bother to tell me I've got some pins wrong on the FX2LP chip on
> > my
> > schematic, I'm correcting them.
> >
> > 73, Leon
> > --
>
> _______________________________________________
> Xylo-SDR mailing list
> To post msg: Xylo-SDR@ae5k.us
> Subscription help: http://lists.ae5k.us/listinfo.cgi/xylo-sdr-ae5k.us
> Xylo-SDR web page: http://xylo-sdr.ae5k.us
> Forum pages: http://www.hamsdr.com/hamsdrforum/
>