I see myself doing a lot of SMD soldering down the road, so I'm considering the purchase of a dedicated reflow oven like the ones I've seen on Ebay, but I don't know anything about them, hence, this post. I saw a T962 on Ebay for $243 and it seems like a good item. It uses infrared to heat the components. Does anybody have any experience with these low-end reflow ovens?

Thanks a lot,
Mike

 

Like anything else, if it works well, doesn't waste boards, components or time and it saves you 25% of its purchase price every year for the next 10 years, vs your next best alternative, then yes, it's worth it.

 

A friend/associate of mine got one for his shop when I made several SMD designs for him as he was geared for "chip & wire" hybrid production. I've only used it on occasion, he is a better source then I am as it definitely has some quirks but he definitely gets work in lower production quantities thru it.

He knows where the hot spots are (that can burn your board), he keeps the load light (not many units at a time) and uses a carrier boat (larger blank board) to hold smaller boards.

The "large" pcb I designed for him is just shy of 1x1 sq inch and he will run around 4 at a time of these.

I own him a call and a lunch date (we work around the corner from each other now) so let me know if you want me to pick his brain for you.

 

I found a hack that fixes two of those quirks at http://www.instructables.com/id/T962A-SMD-Reflow-Oven-FixHack/

I like the built in heating curves. That'll save me the trouble of figuring that out. Only question I have is, how well can it handle the higher temperature requirement of lead-free solder?

Thanks,
Mike