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X****Liu
Amateur reflow soldering with halogen oven
679 1 Jun 06.2019, 18:17:03

I bought this oven that's advertised on tv a lot here, and it's actually pretty good at cooking:
(see pictures,just realized i have a digital working camera... just cooked in the oven so it's dirty..)
I've opened it up, it's basically two semi-circles of 500w-ish halogen lights and a large fan behind them moving the air inside.  The lights are basically turned off by a mechanical relay as the temperature inside reaches the set value ... basically there's a metal pin expanding as the heat goes up and at some point it snaps off the other contact, turning off the lights... when it cools down a bit, the contact is made again.
I've been thinking.. wouldn't it be good to do some reflow soldering, as long as one's sure to adjust the target temperature and follow the curve? I mean, it wouldn't be hard to pre-heat for about 3-5 minutes the oven to 100c or whatever's lowest, then set the timer to about 15 minutes and adjust temperature gradually following the curve.
Surely, it would be also possible to replace the mechanical relay with a digitally controlled  one and have a temperature probe inserted near the pcb and have a more accurate reading.

If you guys say it may work, then my only concern is the fan.. which may have a high speed, and it's basically an AC motor running at 230v and using about 15-20 watts. 

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A****min

Jun 15.2019, 09:05:05

Once you use it to reflow boards, you should never again use it for cooking food especially if used with lead-based solders!

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