Nowadays, electronic components are often packaged with “surface-mount”, a very popular technology for producing electronic circuits in which the components are mounted or placed directly onto the surface of the printed circuit boards. Initially, solder paste is added to the target location of the components (pads or lands) on the surfaces of the printed circuit boards. The components are then placed on the pads or lands and the board and components are heated. The component’s leads are electrically and mechanically fixed to the board with the molten metal solder. This method is known as “reflow soldering”.

 

In an effort to enhance the ability of students to develop prototypes for electronic systems, our faculty has been contemplating the addition of a solder reflow oven to the Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) department. Unfortunately, those available on the market are not only expansive, but are also excessive. Since they are designed for the industry, they provide additional functions that we have no use for. Therefore, as opposed to buying a new solder reflow oven, our professors have proposed a project to investigate the possibility of adding an interface to a regular toaster oven to achieve the levels and rates of temperature necessary for typical students designs. My goal for the summer is to aid them with this research.

There are many different types of reflow ovens with different sizes and operations. Typically, an average reflow oven has a fixed temperature of around 180 Celcius and can rise up to 245 Celcius. Nevertheless, on feature shared by all reflow ovens is that they are generally very expansive. The cheapest reflow ovens cost around $2000 to $5000. The more expensive ones often cost up to $40.000 or $50.000. Since we intend to focus on student designs – which will generally be fairly simple – these industrial reflow ovens provide too many utilities compared to what we actually need.

On the other hand, a simple toaster oven – in spite of its elementary and somewhat narrow utility – can potentially achieve the goals that we want if we can transform and adjust it in a precise manner. Beneficially, a modern toaster oven can withstand a maximum temperature of up to 232 Celcius, which is roughly the the same with that of a solder reflow oven. Furthermore, with its comparatively cheap price, the toaster oven could prove to be a great asset for our ECE department if we were able to finish this project.

 

Goal:

  • A working and cost-effective solder oven that fulfills our department requirements for future project requiring surface mount devices.
  • A user manual for those who would like to use the system.
  • A final report that documents the design, with enough detail to be used to maintain the system in the future.