So I mentioned I was working on a 3D printer control board based on the ESP32.
I managed to solder this today. Using a frying pan for the SMD parts.
This is the same board, with through-hole parts hand-soldered.
But this post is more about the frying pan reflow method.
It was quite simple, actually.
1. Put solder paste onto the pads (I had a stencil).
2. Spend a few hours placing the SMD components onto the board.
3. Put the board on a frying pan.
4. Put pan on the stove.
5. Fire up the stove.
6. Use an infrared thermometer (like this one or this one) to check the temperature of the board. Once the board reaches about 200+ degrees Celsius, the solder paste should start to turn silvery. When that happens, turn down the heat a bit, to the minimum needed to maintain temperature.
7. Keep at this temperature (around 240 degrees Celsius) for about 30 seconds. That should be enough to ensure all parts are properly soldered.
8. Turn off the stove.
The important thing is to check the results. I had a bit of cross connection on the USB connector, where the TX and RX pins were joined by solder. So I used a hot gun to do a bit of rework, and now it works perfectly.
The next step is to test the board with an actual printer!
For those interested, this board is v0.6 of the MRR ESP 3DP board.
I managed to solder this today. Using a frying pan for the SMD parts.
This is the same board, with through-hole parts hand-soldered.
But this post is more about the frying pan reflow method.
It was quite simple, actually.
1. Put solder paste onto the pads (I had a stencil).
2. Spend a few hours placing the SMD components onto the board.
3. Put the board on a frying pan.
4. Put pan on the stove.
5. Fire up the stove.
6. Use an infrared thermometer (like this one or this one) to check the temperature of the board. Once the board reaches about 200+ degrees Celsius, the solder paste should start to turn silvery. When that happens, turn down the heat a bit, to the minimum needed to maintain temperature.
7. Keep at this temperature (around 240 degrees Celsius) for about 30 seconds. That should be enough to ensure all parts are properly soldered.
8. Turn off the stove.
The important thing is to check the results. I had a bit of cross connection on the USB connector, where the TX and RX pins were joined by solder. So I used a hot gun to do a bit of rework, and now it works perfectly.
The next step is to test the board with an actual printer!
For those interested, this board is v0.6 of the MRR ESP 3DP board.
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