Are you controlling that B&D toaster oven?

https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/60

I have everything I need to build mine except a donor oven. I also use a hot plate set to 100C with hot air which gives very nice results.

 

Are you controlling that B&D toaster oven?

https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/60

I have everything I need to build mine except a donor oven. I also use a hot plate set to 100C with hot air which gives very nice results.

I'm using an NI-5F+W controller ...

That is, my Natural Intelligence, 5 Fingers and my Wrist ...

Seriously now. Thanks for the link. Gonna look it up.

 

UPDATE:

It worked! ... I baked all the circuits in my small electric oven, carefully timing 4 minutes and gradually raising the temperature "by feel", until I saw the solder paste liquify, then I waited about 20 seconds, and gradually lowered the temperature again.

Nothing was damaged, and the PCB's came out nice, neat, and clean.

Maybe my next step will be adding a thermocouple and a small controller to the oven to automate the process. But I've got more pressing things to do at the moment. I'll be updating this thread when the moment comes.

 

Maybe my next step will be adding a thermocouple and a small controller to the oven to automate the process. But I've got more pressing things to do at the moment. I'll be updating this thread when the moment comes.

In mine, I attached the thermocouple to an old piece of pcb, which I then attached to the rack when the pcbs go.

 

In mine, I attached the thermocouple to an old piece of pcb, which I then attached to the rack when the pcbs go.

I assume the intention of that arrangement is to directly measure the temperature of a sample PCB as a reference, instead of measuring a random point inside the oven?

 

I assume the intention of that arrangement is to directly measure the temperature of a sample PCB as a reference, instead of measuring a random point inside the oven?

Precisely. I thought about attaching it to the metal rack, but the metal rack would have completely different thermal characteristics to a fibreglass pcb.
My colleague cooks some pcbs in the oven, and we buy in some that are assembled in China. Sometimes I can't tell which is which. (My colleague isn't quite as good as the Pick-and-place at aligning a 64-pin TQFP, and that is generally what gives the game away)

 

Which configuration of thermocouple do you use? Do you use the "naked" type, or encapsulated? How do you attach it to the sample PCB?

Naked:



Encapsulated:

 

It was this one:
https://uk.farnell.com/labfacility/fl-k-2m/sensor-t-couple-k-shim-25x13mm/dp/8597936?ost=8597936
I still have the confirmation e-mail for the order from 2018.
In your part of the world, Farnell=Newark, but you know that.
[edit] from the same order acknowledgement, I can tell you I amplified it with an AD8495ARMZ.

 

you can attach the thermocouple with kapton