Recommendation for SMD hot plate? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: BreakingOhmsLaw
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 15, 2021, 06:22:15 pm
content: Hi everybody,What's the current go-to part for a decent hot plate?My requirements are mostly quick part recovery from prototype boards, 100x100mm size would be fine.Are any of the Chinese made plate you find on banggood any good, or are they deathtraps?I've seen the recent 30x30 "mini" hot plate Dave tested, but that is definitely too small. I basically want to whack the board on the plate, wait for it to heat and recover the expensive ICs before trashing the board. No reflowing or other funny stuff intended.EDIT: I bought a HT-2008, teardown and review here:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/ht-2008-90-smd-hot-plate-death-trap-teardown-review/new/#new

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 15, 2021, 08:04:35 pm
content: For mass harvesting of SMD IC's, I put the board over a trash can (adding crushed paper, sawdust, or straw is optional), heat the back with a propane torch, and occasionally tap it as a small nudge.

author: BreakingOhmsLaw
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 16, 2021, 12:23:42 pm
content: Working with an open flame in my office is asure-fireway of getting myselffiredAnd it's not mass harvesting that I need, I just want to pick that €40 Opamp from the PCB before sending it to the dumpster or preheat the PCB when i need to populate parts that weren't available at the board house.I have two units on my shortlist:QUICK 853X1520TDoes anyone own these and can tell anything about them?

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 18, 2021, 04:19:14 pm
content: For what it’s worth, at work we just got this one:https://www.reichelt.com/ch/de/infra-red-rework-heating-plate-800-w-station-ir-610-p105798.htmlIt just came yesterday, so I’ve only been able to test it the tiniest bit, but it seems to work well. It certainly has more than enough power to melt the solder and remove ICs. (I did that with a scrap board.)

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2021, 04:55:24 am
content: careful with buying them on ebay, they have a specification for surface heat evenness, at least the good ones, used units that are cleaned up and look good might not have this specified uniformity. They will tell you something along the lines of "the specified surface heat differential minimum and maximums are at most some value of C when a thermal camera is placed x-inches from the surface"So if you really want good SMD joints, I think its a big reason why people use IR heating, because you can tell the source is uniform.The way to check it is using a thermal camera, so if you do not have one, using it for things other then heating beakers is not a good idea for what you are interested in. I got one once, thought it was nice, it cleaned up good, looked great, but the surface was un-even so it I don't think it was suitable for doing something like a thin heat sensitive PCB. The replacement top for it cost like 5x the price of the hot plate.This is one of the parameters you are paying for, how long it stays uniform on the surface to specification.

author: daniel444
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2021, 12:02:59 pm
content: crazy idea here but i just made one of these from a replacement stovetop electric element 1.8kwyou could make one similar and also buy a 1 or 2mm quartz glass window for itthe element is 170mm diameteri run mine off a seperate dimmer box with 10ma rcdi dont have a quartz window or intend to do smd soldering myselfthe the quarts glass should have the best transmission of the infra red but it will be the most expensive part

author: kripton2035
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2021, 12:14:09 pm
content: I bought this one and I'm very happy with it (except for the €30+ VAT I had to pay when it arrived...)https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32692018362.html

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2021, 12:25:32 pm
content: I have this one which works well (My brother and I both have one each, and my brother uses his for small production work similar to your use case and it seems to work well).I have since replaced the controller with a 'more genuine' one as the one supplied didn't have any real PID controls etc. It's pot luck what you'll get in regards to that so suck it and see, then make a decision if you want to replace it or not.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2021, 01:33:15 pm
content: Quote from: BreakingOhmsLaw on March 16, 2021, 12:23:42 pmYou can let out your inner neanderthal with a hot air gun too - it is surprisingly easy to control the temperature "just right" and get the parts off without damaging anything... all you need is a bucket to catch the parts in - I use a plastic box with a damp rag in the bottom...

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 04, 2021, 08:32:43 pm
content: I've had a look at hot plates lately.If you're thinking of buying something cheap off Aliexpress or the like, beware. I've done some searching, seen a few teardowns, and so on. IMHO, many of them have safety issues. The cheap ones are often based on hot plate elements that are aluminum and the heating element , just under the plate, is mains-powered (through some controller usually.) Those hot plate elements can be bought separately, so you can decide for yourself. Heck, they are a few dollars each, so with an additional DIY controller (a few bucks more) you can have a working hot plate. BUT I wouldn't trust them for safety reasons. Isolation between the hot plate and the heating element is often pretty poor.

author: blacksheeplogic
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2021, 09:11:49 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on April 04, 2021, 08:32:43 pmI have a Weller WHP3000 + Board Holder, and a Weller WHP1000. I would recommend either of these but not for casual occasional use.

author: BreakingOhmsLaw
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2021, 12:54:52 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on April 04, 2021, 08:32:43 pmYou are absolutely right. I ended up buying a Chinese one, and have fixed some serious safety issues. The hot plate itself was grounded though, but the metal case wasn't. Also no fusing whatsoever to be found.See:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/ht-2008-90-smd-hot-plate-death-trap-teardown-review/