make sure the SM components don’t need any kind of
special pretreatment and can tolerate the temperature of
your toaster oven. Most people tend to start with the
smaller components and then work their way up in size.
The important thing is that you take appropriate
precautions against electrostatic discharge by grounding
yourself. I also like to gently press each component into the
solder paste so that it doesn’t pop up while the solder
melts during reflow in the toaster oven. Don’t worry about
any of the TH components; you’ll solder them in after the
board is “baked.” Baking Your Board (Reflow)
There are many different ways that you can melt
(reflow) the solder paste. I use an inexpensive toaster oven
(Figure 12). Like the fridge that I store my solder paste in,
the toaster oven is used only for reflowing PCBs boards and
never for food. Again, be safe and only reflow in a well-ventilated area and avoid breathing in any fumes.
When I “bake” or reflow a board, I simply place it on
the rack, turn the temperature up to continuous, watch for
the solder paste to melt, and then turn the oven off. It’s
easy to tell once the solder paste has melted because it
will change from dull gray to shiny silver and shimmer
(Figure 13). Just make sure that all of the solder paste has
melted — especially around the larger components that take
longer to heat up.
The entire process should only take a few minutes
(mine typically take 1-2 minutes when the oven is hot). It’s
important not to over-bake your board because — just like
anything — you can burn it out.
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Figure 12. Toaster oven for reflowing SM boards.
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40 May 2014