IR soldering station homemade designs. Simple and clear recommendations on how to make a soldering station with your own hands
With the advent of microprocessor technology, it became necessary to deal with the resoldering of BGA microcircuits during repairs, which is either extremely difficult to do using conventional methods, or, more often, impossible. Even a hairdryer will not always help cope with the task. That is why making an infrared soldering station with your own hands will be the best alternative and sometimes the only relevant solution.
IR soldering station
BGA (Ball grid array) chips are present in almost any modern “smart” device: phones, computers, TVs, printers. During operation, they may fail, which requires replacing the faulty part with a new one. But carrying out such a procedure without special equipment is an extremely difficult task.
The problem is that manufacturers are inventing more and more new methods for mounting electronic parts. And a regular soldering iron or hair dryer will not always be able to help solve this problem. After all, contact balls contribute to high heat transfer to the board, as a result of which they cannot melt.
If you try to raise the temperature to the level necessary to melt them, there is a risk of overheating the microcircuit, as a result of which it may fail. Due to overheating, the possibility of damage to nearby parts cannot be ruled out. Especially if their bodies are made of fusible materials.
An infrared station can be an excellent solution. It allows you to replace even large GPU controllers. And with the widespread use of computers, laptops, motherboards, video adapters and other complex equipment, such repair work is performed quite often. And if previously it was possible to use hot-air stations to replace large microcircuits, now, when manufacturers use non-contact soldering methods, the only optimal solution is an IR station that can efficiently cope with the replacement of any microprocessor part.
Operating principle
The main problems when resoldering microcircuits and controllers are either underheating of the contact material to the melting temperature, or overheating of the replaced part and its failure.
This is how the idea came to heat the board itself to a temperature of 100–150 degrees Celsius. After that, solder the parts. This allows you to qualitatively reduce the heat flow to the PCB board, which makes it possible to lower the “upper” temperatures. This means that the part itself will be less subject to overheating.
You can also heat it with a hot air gun, but it is preferable to use an infrared soldering iron. After all, the IR station allows you to do this in a controlled manner, that is, monitor and maintain the “bottom” and “top” temperatures or use the recommended soldering thermal profile.
Design features
Any IR soldering stations consist of three main parts. Everything looks quite simple, although each of them is an independent complex mechanism, combined with general installation. So, any station includes:
Depending on the model and manufacturer, IR soldering irons may differ only in technical characteristics. Some make the job easier, while others, on the contrary, require additional attention and labor from the user.
This also affects the cost of equipment. Therefore, when choosing a station, you need to pay attention not only to the price, but also to the technical data, so as not to overpay for unnecessary functionality.
DIY making
For industries or individuals involved in the repair of complex electronic equipment, it is quite possible to purchase a factory-made IR soldering station for work. But for amateurs or those who need such an installation occasionally, you can create it yourself. And the price speaks in favor of this, first of all. Even Chinese-made devices cost from 1 thousand dollars. High-quality models of European brands cost from 2 thousand dollars and above. Not everyone can afford such an expensive pleasure.
Regarding the homemade infrared soldering station, everything looks much more optimistic. According to average calculations, such an analogue of an IR soldering iron will cost around $80, which looks incomparably more reasonable than the prices of factory devices.
Any person involved in the repair of complex equipment has enough knowledge to invent and construct an IR station on their own. Due to this, the electronic part, appearance and some features may differ. And here the basic design will remain the same in any model. That is why there is no single ideal scheme that can be cited as the only correct solution. But in order to understand the very principle of creating an IR soldering iron, any model will do. And based on personal knowledge and preferences, you can remove or add certain parts.
First option
This option will use a two-channel controller.
- The first channel is used for a Pt 100 platinum thermistor or a conventional thermocouple.
- The second channel will be used exclusively by the thermocouple. The controller channels can operate in automatic or manual mode.
The temperature can be maintained between 10 and 255 degrees Celsius. Thermocouples or a sensor and a thermocouple control these parameters automatically through feedback. In manual mode, the power on each channel will be adjusted from 0 to 99 percent.
Controller memory will contain 14 different thermal profiles for working with BGA chips. Seven of them are for lead-containing alloys, and the other seven are for lead-free solder.
In the case of weak heaters, the upper one may not keep up with the thermal profile. In this case, the controller will pause execution and wait until the required temperature is reached.
The controller also very conveniently performs a thermal profile based on the preheating temperature of the entire board. If for one reason or another it was not possible to remove the chip, then you can restart it with more high temperature.
The power unit shown in the diagram has a transistor switch for upper heating and a seven-storage switch for lower heating. Although it is acceptable to use two transistor or triac ones. The area marked with a red dotted line may not be collected if the use of two thermocouples is calculated.
To remove heat from the keys, you can use a radiator with active cooling from any equipment. The main thing is that it fits the design of the modeled apparatus. The bottom heater will consist of nine halogen lamps with a rating of 1500 W 220–240 V R7S 254 mm. You should get three parts of three lamps connected in series. It is better to use high-temperature silicone wires for 220 volts.
The body is assembled from fiberglass or any other similar material and is reinforced with aluminum corners. You will also have to buy Vacuum pump. For a more aesthetic appearance You can use IR glass on the bottom panel. But there are several negative aspects here: heating and cooling are too slow, and the entire structure gets too hot during operation. Although the presence of glass not only makes the device more attractive, but also convenient, since the boards can be placed directly on it.
The stand is made of aluminum channel for stands. Vacuum tweezers and a tube for it, a thermocouple and stands are prepared. It is recommended to make the upper heater from ELSTEIN SHTS/100 800W. When all the parts are ready, they need to be placed in the case and you can proceed to configuration.
Heaters are installed at a distance of 5–6 centimeters from the boards. If the temperature run-out is more than three degrees, then it is worth reducing the power of the upper heater.
Second solution
As a second option, we can propose a design that differs only in internal components. And first you should prepare everything required components:
The main thing is to immediately decide on the type of case. Naturally, a lot depends on availability suitable material. Therefore, this is what you should start from when it comes time to place the components inside.
Now you need to take a halogen heater. It may be possible to find an old one, since it needs to be disassembled and reflectors and halogen lamps removed. There is no need to disassemble the lamps themselves. Now all this will need to be placed in the prepared housing. Only 4 lamps of 450 watts are used, connected in parallel. It is preferable to use the same wires with which they were already connected. If for some reason you cannot use them, you will have to buy additional heat-resistant ones.
You will immediately have to think about the fee retention system. It is difficult to give specific recommendations here. After all, it all depends on the body. But it would be nice to use aluminum profiles into which bolts and nuts are not rigidly inserted so that they can subsequently clamp printed circuit boards and, at the same time, be able to adjust the different sizes plat. It is better to pass thermocouples that control the set temperature circuit in the lower heater into the shower hose. This will provide mobility and convenience during operation and installation.
The role of the upper heater will perform ceramic with a power of 450 watts. This can be purchased as a spare part for IR stations. Here you also need to take care of the housing, since it is this that ensures proper and high-quality heating. It can be made from thin sheet iron, bent as needed, depending on the shape and size of the heater.
Now you need to think about mounting the top heater. Since it must be movable, and move not only up or down, but also at different angles. The stand from table lamp. You can secure it in any convenient way.
It's time to tackle the controller. It will also require a separate housing. If there is a suitable ready-made one, then you can use it. Otherwise, you will have to make it yourself, all from the same thin metal. Solid state relays need cooling, so it is worth installing a radiator and fan for them.
Since there is no automatic setting in the controller, the values of P, I and D will have to be entered manually. There are four profiles, for each you can separately set the number of steps, the rate of temperature rise, the waiting time and step, the lower threshold, the target temperature and the values for the upper and lower heater.
An infrared soldering station is a device for soldering microcircuits in a BGA package. If what you read doesn’t tell you anything, you probably shouldn’t go to the cat. There are arduinos, graphs, programming, ammeters, screws and blue electrical tape.
First background.
My professional activity related in some way to electronics. Therefore, relatives and friends constantly strive to bring me some electronic device that is not quite working properly with the words “well, look, maybe some wiring has come unsoldered.”
At that time, such a thing turned out to be a 17" eMachines G630 laptop. When you pressed the power button, the indicator came on, the fan made noise, but the display was lifeless, there were no beeps and no hard drive activity. An autopsy showed that the laptop was built on the AMD platform, and the north bridge is marked 216-0752001. A quick google showed that the chip has a very bad reputation in terms of reliability, but problems with it are easily diagnosed. You just need to warm it up. I set the soldering gun to 400 degrees and blew on the chip for 20 seconds. The laptop started up and showed the picture .
The diagnosis has been made. It would seem that it’s a small matter - re-soldering the chip. This is where the first revelation awaited me. After calling service centers, it turned out that the minimum amount for which you can change a chip in Minsk is $80. $40 for the chip and $40 for the labor. For a laptop with a total cost of $150, it was not very budget-friendly. A friendly introduction service offered to resolder the chip at cost - for $20. The final price tag dropped to $60. The upper limit of a psychologically acceptable price. The chip was successfully soldered, the laptop was assembled, given away, and I happily forgot about it.
The second background.
A few months after the end of the first backstory, a relative called me and said, “You love all kinds of electronics. Pick up your laptop for spare parts. For free. Or I'll just throw it in the trash. They said it looked like a motherboard. Chip dump. It is not economically feasible to repair.” So I became the owner of a Lenovo G555 laptop without a hard drive, but with everything else, including a power supply. Turning it on showed the same symptoms as in the first prehistory: the cooler is spinning, the lights are on, there are no more signs of life. The autopsy showed an old friend 216-0752001 with traces of manipulation.
After warming up the chip, the laptop started up as if nothing had happened, as in the first case.
Reflections.
So I found myself the owner of a laptop with a faulty north bridge. Should I take it apart for parts or try to repair it? If the latter, then solder it on the side again, even for 60 dollars, and not 80? Or buy your own infrared soldering station? Or maybe assemble it yourself? Do I have enough strength and knowledge?
After some thought, it was decided to try to fix it, and to fix it myself. Even if the attempt is unsuccessful, it won’t hurt to disassemble it for parts. And the infrared station will be a useful aid in many works that require preheating.
Technical task.
Having studied the prices for ready-made industrial infrared stations (from $1000 to plus infinity), sifted through a bunch of topics on specialized forums and videos on Youtube, I finally formed the technical specifications:
1. I will make my own soldering station.
2. The design budget is no more than $80 (two solderings at the service center without materials).
Additionally, the following were purchased offline:
Linear halogen lamps R7S J254 1500W - 9 pcs.
Linear halogen lamps R7S J118 500W - 3 pcs.
R7S cartridges - 12 pcs.
The following were pulled out of the trash in the garage:
Docking station from some antediluvian Compaq laptop - 1 pc.
Tripod from a Soviet photo enlarger - 1 pc.
Power and signal wires, an Arduino Nano, and WAGO terminal blocks were found in a home storage room.
Bottom heater.
We arm ourselves with a grinder and cut off everything unnecessary from the docking station.
We attach cartridges to a sheet of metal.
We connect three cartridges in series, resulting in three chains in parallel. We install the lamps and hide them in the housing.
The search for material for the reflector took long time. I didn't want to use foil because I suspected it wouldn't last long. Use a thicker one sheet metal did not work due to difficulties with its processing. A survey of familiar employees of industrial enterprises and a visit to non-ferrous metal purchase points did not yield any results.
In the end, I was able to find sheet aluminum that was slightly thicker than foil, which was ideal for me.
Now I know exactly where to look for such sheets - from printers. They attach them to the drums in their cars, either to transfer paint, or for something else. If anyone knows, tell me in the comments.
Bottom heater with installed reflector and grille. Instead of a grille, it is more correct to use, but it is not at all budget-friendly, like everything with the “Professional” sticker.
Shines a beautiful orange light. It doesn’t burn your eyes, you can look at the light completely calmly.
Consumes about 2.3 kW.
Upper heater
The design idea is the same. The cartridges are screwed with self-tapping screws to the cover of the computer power supply. A reflector bent from an aluminum sheet is attached to it. Three five hundred watt halogens are connected in series.
It also glows orange.
Consumes about 250 watts.
Control circuit
An infrared station is essentially an automatic machine with two sensors (board thermocouple and chip thermocouple) and two actuators(lower heater relay and upper heater relay).
It was decided that all the heating power control logic would be implemented on a PC. Arduino will only be a bridge between the station and the PC. I received the parameters for PWM control of the heaters from the PC - set them - sent the temperature of the thermocouples to the PC, and so on in a circle.
Arduino expects messages like SETxxx*yyy* on the serial port, where xxx is the power of the upper heater in percent, yyy is the power of the lower heater in percent. If the received message matches the template, the PWM coefficients for the heaters are set and the OKaaabbbcccddd message is returned, where aaa and bbb are the installed power of the upper and lower heaters, ccc and ddd are the temperature received from the upper and lower thermocouples.
A “real” hardware PWM microcontroller with a sampling frequency of several kilohertz is not applicable in our case, since a solid-state relay cannot turn off at an arbitrary point in time, but only when the alternating voltage passes through 0. It was decided to implement our own PWM algorithm with a frequency of about 5 hertz. At the same time, the lamps do not have time to go out completely, although they flicker noticeably. In this case, the minimum duty cycle, at which there is still a chance to capture one period of the mains voltage, turns out to be 10%, which is quite enough.
When writing the sketch, the task was to refuse to set delays using the delay() function, since there is a suspicion that at the moment of delays, data from the serial port may be lost. The algorithm turned out to be as follows: in an endless loop, the presence of data from the serial port and the value of the software PWM time counters are checked. If there is data from the serial port, we process it; if the time counter has reached the PWM switching values, we carry out actions to turn the heaters on and off.
#include
Application for computer.
Written in Object Pascal in the Delphi environment. It displays the state of the heaters, draws a temperature graph and has a built-in primitive modeling language, more reminiscent of some Verilog in philosophy than, for example, Pascal. A “program” consists of a set of “condition-action” pairs. For example, “when the lower thermocouple reaches a temperature of 120 degrees, set the power of the lower heater to 10%, and the upper heater to 80%.” This set of conditions implements the required thermal profile - heating rate, holding temperature, etc.
The app has a timer that ticks once per second. Based on a timer tick, the function sends the current power settings to the controller, receives back the current temperature values, draws them in the parameters window and on the graph, calls the procedure for checking logical states, and then goes to sleep until the next tick.
Assembly and test run.
I assembled the control circuit on a breadboard. Not aesthetically pleasing, but cheap, fast and practical.
The device is finally assembled and ready to launch.
A run on the test board revealed the following observations:
1. The power of the bottom heater is incredible. The temperature graph of a thin laptop board shoots up like a candle. Even at 10% power, the board confidently heats up to the required 140-160 degrees.
2. The power of the upper heater is worse. It is possible to heat the chip even to a temperature of “low +50 degrees” only at 100% power. Either it will have to be redone later, or let it remain as a protection against the temptation to underheat the bottom.
Buying a chip on Aliexpress.
There are two types of bridges 216-0752001 on sale. Some are declared as new and cost from $20 each. Others are listed as "used" and cost $5-$10 each.
There are many opinions among repairmen regarding used chips. From categorically negative (“bugger, come to me, I have a pile of used bridges right under the table after resoldering, I’ll sell them to you inexpensively”) to cautiously neutral (“I plant them sometimes, they seem to work fine, returns, if there are any, are not much more often than new ones").
Since my repairs are ultra-budgetary, it was decided to install a used chip. And to be on the safe side in case of a trembling hand or a faulty copy, a lot “2 pieces for 14 dollars” was found.
Chip removal
We install the board on the bottom heating, attach one thermocouple to the chip, the second to the board away from the chip. To reduce heat loss, cover the board with foil, with the exception of the window for the chip. We place the upper heater above the chip. Since the chip has already been replanted, we load a self-invented profile for lead solder (heating the board to 150 degrees, heating the chip to 190 degrees).
Everything is ready to start.
After the board reached a temperature of 150 degrees, the upper heater automatically turned on. Below, under the board, you can see the heated filament of the lower halogen.
Around 190 degrees the chip “floated”. Since the vacuum tweezers did not fit into the budget, we hook it with a thin screwdriver and turn it over.
Temperature chart during dismantling:
The graph clearly shows the moment the upper heater is turned on, the quality of stabilization of the board temperature (yellow large wavy line) and the chip temperature (red small ripples). The red long “tooth” downwards means the thermocouple is falling from the chip after it is turned over.
Soldering a new chip
Due to the responsibility of the process, there was no time to take photographs or take screenshots. In principle, everything is the same: we go over the nickels with a soldering iron, apply flux, install the chip, install thermocouples, work out the soldering profile, and with a slight wobble we make sure that the chip has “floated.”
Chip after installation:
It can be seen that it sat more or less straight, the color has not changed, and the textolite is not bent. The prognosis for life is favorable.
With bated breath we turn on:
Yes! The motherboard started up. I re-soldered the first BGA in my life. Moreover, it was successful the first time.
Approximate cost estimate:
Bulb J254: $1.5*9=$13.5
Bulb J118: $1.5*3=$4.5
Cartridge r7s: $1.0*12=$12.0
Thermocouple: $1.5*2=$3.0
MAX6675: $2.5*2=5.0
Relay: $4*2=$8.0
Chips: $7*2=$14.0
Total: $60 minus the remaining spare chip.
The laptop was assembled, a 40 gigabyte hard drive found in the table was added to it, and operating system. To prevent similar incidents in the future, using k10stat, the supply voltage of the processor core is reduced to 0.9V. Now, during the most severe use, the processor temperature does not rise above 55 degrees.
The laptop was installed in the dining room as a movie library for the youngest member of the family, who refuses to eat without his favorite cartoons.
Many radio amateurs cannot find the right tool for various microcircuits and components. A do-it-yourself soldering station for such craftsmen is one of best options solutions to all problems.
You no longer need to choose from a variety of imperfect factory devices; you just need to find the appropriate components, spend a little time and make the perfect device that meets all the requirements with your own hands.
The modern market offers radio amateurs great amount of all kinds with different configurations.
In most cases, soldering stations are divided into:
- Contact stations.
- Digital and analog devices.
- Induction devices.
- Contactless devices.
- Dismantling stations.
The first station option is a soldering iron connected to a temperature control unit.
Electrical diagram of a soldering station.
Contact soldering devices are divided into:
- devices for working with lead-containing solders;
- devices for working with lead-free solders.
Allowing the melting of lead-free solder, they have powerful heating elements. This choice of soldering irons is due to the high melting point of lead-free solder. Of course, due to the presence of a temperature controller, such devices are suitable for working with lead-containing solder.
Analog soldering machines regulate the temperature of the tip using a temperature sensor. Once the tip overheats, the power is cut off. When the core cools, power is supplied to the soldering iron again and heating begins.
Digital devices control the temperature of the soldering iron using a specialized PID controller, which in turn obeys a unique program embedded in the microcontroller.
Distinctive feature induction devices is to heat the soldering iron core using a pulse coil. During operation, high-frequency oscillations occur, forming eddy currents in the ferromagnetic coating of the equipment.
The heating stops due to the ferromagnet reaching the Curie point, after which the properties of the metal change and the effect of exposure to high frequencies stops.
Non-contact soldering machines are divided into:
- infrared;
- hot air;
- combined.
The soldering station consists of heating element in the form of a quartz or ceramic emitter.
Infrared soldering stations, compared to hot air soldering stations, have the following tangible advantages:
- no need to search for nozzles for a soldering iron;
- well suited for working with all types of microcircuits;
- absence of thermal deformation of printed circuit boards due to uniform heating;
- radio components are not blown away from the board by air;
- uniform heating of the soldering area.
It is important to note that infrared soldering devices are professional equipment and are rarely used by ordinary radio amateurs.
Dependence of temperature on soldering time.
In most cases, infrared devices consist of:
- top ceramic or quartz heater;
- bottom heater;
- tables for supporting printed circuit boards;
- microcontroller that controls the station;
- thermocouples to monitor current temperatures.
Hot air soldering stations are used for mounting radio components. In most cases, hot air stations are convenient for soldering components located in SMD cases. Such parts are miniature in size and are easily soldered by supplying hot air from a hot air gun to them.
Combination devices, as a rule, combine several types of soldering equipment, for example, a hot air gun and a soldering iron.
Dismantling stations are equipped with a compressor that draws in air. Such equipment is ideal for removing excess solder or dismantling unnecessary components on a printed circuit board.
All more or less decent component stations in different buildings have the following additional equipment:
- backlight lamps;
- smoke extractors or hoods;
- guns for dismantling and suctioning excess solder;
- vacuum tweezers;
- infrared emitters for heating the entire printed circuit board;
- hot air gun for heating a specific area;
- thermal tweezers.
DIY soldering station
The most functional and convenient station is the infrared one.
Before you make an infrared soldering station with your own hands, you should purchase the following items:
- halogen heater for four infrared lamps power 2KW;
- upper infrared heater for a soldering station in the form of a 450 W ceramic infrared head;
- aluminum corners to create a structure frame;
- shower hose;
- steel wire;
- leg from any table lamp;
- programmable microcomputer, for example, Arduino;
- several solid state relays;
- two thermocouples to control the current temperature;
- 5 volt power supply;
- small screen;
- 5 volt buzzer;
- fasteners;
- if necessary, a soldering hair dryer.
Quartz or ceramic heaters can be used as the top heater.
Making a soldering station with your own hands.
The advantages of ceramic emitters are presented:
- invisible radiation spectrum that does not damage the eyes of the radio amateur;
- more for a long time trouble-free operation;
- very widespread.
In turn, quartz IR heaters have the following advantages:
- greater temperature uniformity in the heating zone;
- lower cost.
The steps for assembling an IR soldering station are presented below:
- Installation of lower heater elements for working with bga elements.
Most simple method To obtain four halogen lamps, you need to remove them from an old heater. After the issue with the lamps is resolved, you should come up with the type of housing. - Assembling the structure of the soldering table and thinking through the system for holding the boards on the lower heater.
Installing the PCB mounting system involves cutting six pieces aluminum profile and attaching them to the body using nuts made of perforated tape. The resulting fastening system allows you to move printed circuit board and adapt it to the needs of the radio amateur. - Installation of elements of the upper heater and soldering gun.
A 450 - 500 W ceramic heater can be purchased in a Chinese online store. To install the top heating, you need to take a sheet of metal and bend it to the size of the heater. After this, the top heater of the homemade IR together with the hairdryer should be placed on the leg of an old lamp and connected to the power supply. - Programming and connecting a microcomputer.
The most important stage of creating your own infrared soldering device, including: creating a housing for the microcontroller with thinking over the space for other components and buttons. The case along with the controller must contain the following elements: two solid-state relays, a display, a power supply, buttons and connecting terminals.
Most radio amateurs prefer to use old system units as the base of the housing and aluminum corners for attaching all the main elements of the lower heater. When connecting lamps, it is recommended to use the standard wiring of a disassembled halogen heater.
Upon completion of the station assembly process, you should proceed to directly setting up the microcontroller. Radio amateurs who made their own infrared soldering station often had to use an Arduino ATmega2560 microcomputer.
Software written specifically for devices based on this type controller can be found on the Internet.
Scheme
Schematic diagram of an infrared soldering iron.
A typical soldering station circuit includes:
- thermocouple amplifier block;
- microcontroller with screen;
- keyboard;
- an audible alarm, such as a computer speaker;
- batteries and support elements for the soldering gun;
- drawings of zero detector elements;
- power section elements;
- power supply for all equipment.
In most cases, the station diagram is represented by the following microcomponents:
- optocoupler;
- mosfet;
- triac;
- several stabilizers;
- potentiometer;
- trim resistor;
- resistor;
- LEDs;
- resonator;
- several resonators in SMD housings;
- capacitors;
- switches.
The exact markings of the parts vary depending on the needs and intended operating conditions.
Process
The process of assembling an infrared soldering station largely depends on the preferences of the master.
A typical version of the device on the Arduino microcontroller, which suits most radio amateurs, is assembled in the following sequence:
- selection of necessary elements;
- preparing radio components and heaters for installation work;
- assembly of the soldering station body;
- installation of lower preheaters for uniform heating of massive printed circuit boards;
- installation of the control board of the soldering combine and its fixation using pre-prepared fasteners;
- installation of an upper heater and a soldering hot air gun;
- installation of thermocouple mounts;
- programming the microcontroller for certain soldering conditions;
- checking all elements, including halogen lamps of the lower heater, infrared emitter and soldering gun.
Soldering station design.
After complete assembly of the infrared station, you should check all elements for functionality.
Special attention should be paid to checking the correct operation of thermocouples, since this system does not have their compensation.
This means that when the air temperature in the room changes, the thermocouple will begin to measure the temperature with a significant error.
Checking the ceramic heater head is also important. If the infrared emitter overheats, it is necessary to provide airflow or cooling using an additional radiator.
Settings
Setting the operating modes of an IR soldering station mainly consists of:
- setting acceptable operating modes for soldering guns;
- checking the operating modes of the lower heating element;
- setting the operating temperatures of the upper quartz emitter;
- installing special buttons to quickly change heating parameters;
- microcontroller programming.
Features of the soldering station device.
As soldering work progresses, it may be necessary to change temperatures and conditions.
Such actions can be performed using buttons associated with the microcomputer:
- the + button should be configured to increase the temperature of a purchased or homemade quartz emitter in steps of 5 - 10 degrees;
- buttons – should also lower the temperature in small increments.
The basic settings of the microcomputer are presented:
- adjusting the P, I and D values;
- adjusting profiles that specify the step of changing certain parameters;
- setting critical temperatures, at which the station is switched off.
Some designers make the upper heater from a hair dryer. This approach is only suitable for soldering small elements in SMD packages.
Homemade IR soldering stations are perfect for small repairs at home or in private workshops. Thanks to relative simplicity design and wide functionality, infrared stations are in incredible demand.
Electrical circuit of a soldering iron.
- Correct configuration of microcontroller parameters.
If incorrect parameters are entered into the computer, the soldering machine may not properly solder components and damage the printed circuit board mask. - Wearing protective equipment when performing soldering work.
A quartz emitter, unlike a ceramic emitter, during operation produces radiation at a wavelength visible to the eye. Therefore, if the device uses a quartz infrared emitter, it is recommended to wear special safety glasses to protect the operator from vision damage. - Electric circuit diagram stations should contain only reliable elements.
In addition, all capacitors and resistors used during assembly must be selected with a small margin. - The controller for the IR soldering station can be selected from popular Arduino models.
If desired, the controller can be made from an unknown microcomputer, however, in this case the master will have to independently develop software for operation of the soldering station. - When assembling the station, you should provide a connector for connecting a soldering iron.
Sometimes, it is more convenient to spot solder the board components using a regular soldering iron or a device with a hot air gun instead of a tip. A similar solution can be implemented by designing an additional thermocouple to control the temperature of the soldering iron. - For soldering using active fluxes and solders with high lead content, air circulation must be ensured.
A good hood or fan will greatly facilitate the operator’s breathing and prevent him from breathing in the fumes of harmful metals.
Conclusion
IR soldering stations are one of the best installations in a variety of housing designs. You can make a soldering station using infrared heating elements even at home.
As a rule, home craftsmen prefer to use powerful halogen lamps for bottom heaters. Basic pinouts of connectors, microcircuit parameters, microcontroller models, instructions on how to make a soldering gun from a household hair dryer and other information are available on the Internet.
Despite the fact that every year more and more new technology appears in the world, more “advanced” in its technical specifications, this does not mean that it will serve forever. Sooner or later, any mechanism fails. And no matter how reliable a part may be, this does not insure it against possible exit out of service. And when repairing such equipment, the main tool is a soldering iron. Today we will look at what is special about an infrared soldering station and what it can do.
Design characteristics
As the main heating element in the design this mechanism A quartz or ceramic emitter can be used. Moreover, both types of devices provide fast and efficient metal soldering. By the way, the heating level of this tool on infrared soldering irons can be varied to varying degrees. Thus, thanks to the presence of a special regulator, you can choose the most suitable temperature regime for the specific type of metal on which the connection (soldering) will be made.
It should be noted that the most popular view soldering equipment are infrared stations with a type of heating that uses a focused beam. Often the design of such devices consists of two parts, which together provide local heating of the board or other component elements. As a result, you can get a very high-quality connection, while spending a minimum amount of time on soldering.
Varieties
As we noted above, an infrared soldering station can be quartz or ceramic. In order to understand the features of each of them, we will consider both types in more detail.
Ceramic
The ceramic infrared soldering station (including Achi ir6000), due to its simple design, is highly reliable, durable and durable. In this case, it takes no more than 10 minutes to warm up the entire device to the operating soldering temperature. Such stations often use a flat or hollow emitter. The latter type has much greater heating of the working surface of the emitter, as a result of which it quickly performs soldering and heats up to the desired temperature. However, the cost of such devices does not allow them to be used by everyone who repairs electronic digital equipment.
Quartz
The quartz infrared soldering station, despite its increased fragility, has a high heating rate. In just 30 seconds the emitter heats up to its operating temperature.
An industrial or homemade infrared soldering station is often used for intermittent processes, where there is frequent switching on and off of the device. Ceramic mechanisms are more vulnerable to frequent switching on and can instantly fail if operating rules are not followed.
agree.
I don't agree. It’s not the percent who starts to panic, but the programmer who programmed him did not foresee such a situation. What prevents the programmer from taking such a situation into account? Moreover, this function is implemented in the tormentor controller - CUT.
What prevents you from entering the same table into the controller software? For example. The START button is pressed when Tn. = 100 degrees. The controller checks next condition: initial step T = 20 degrees, final step T = 180 degrees, step time is 160 seconds. This means that the increase in T at this step is 1 g/sec. The controller should reduce the heating time by 80 seconds. But I must also take into account (but this condition is not taken into account in the tormentor controller) that if the increase in T at this step should be equal to 1 g/sec, then despite any other factors, namely, time increases or decreases, it must heat no MORE and NO LESS THAN 1g/sec. Moreover, some time is still needed to at least warm up the emitter. Whatever power was set at this step. And the operator shouldn’t really care what power it heats with this moment station. And the controller should know this from compiled tables, for example, for such a function as auto-tuning. When you turn on the station for the first time, either automatically or through a menu item, the station’s auto-tuning starts. This can be specified in the instructions. Like, first install the board as large as possible, the controller drove up to 100 degrees, which in principle is painless for the board, took measurements, then the middle one, then the smallest one, like MXM. That's all! The controller created a table for itself about which you write “about stoves”. Next, based on this table, the controller does preheating and at the same time DETERMINES what size board is installed. He determines this by the board’s reaction to the rise in T from the power applied to the VI. If he “didn’t like” something, then let him give a signal - it is necessary to carry out auto-tuning. As a result, another board will be added to his table. In terms of time, I don't think this is critical. Because DIYers spend significantly more time setting up their homemade products.
ANY soldering controller is just such a device in terms of functionality, even from famous manufacturers. What is a dimer? This is some kind of power control external influence. In the case of a dimer, this is the potentiometer knob. In the case of a soldering iron, a controller. And what you wrote at the end, I wrote at the beginning. There is no time to create a soldering station based on PID and power control. Or rather, it is possible to create it, but it requires very clear and deeply thought-out software.
Continued for Krievs. In the case of multi-stage dimers, this software is an operator who monitors the process and in the event of “something went wrong” makes one decision or another. The only advantage of this solution is its low cost. How correctly I wrote Andy52280, in this case everything goes “to the bulging eye of the sea.”
In continuation I will say that maxlabt found the maximum optimal solution for homemade stations. Or rather, he didn’t find it, but he studied the theory as deeply as possible (the nickname helped) and in practice chose the lesser evil of all evils. And the main thing is that he shared his research with everyone. Why should he Thanks a lot. Aries 151 actually costs exactly as much as it can be used, well, maybe a little more. Also, because of its versatility, it is not entirely suitable for our conditions. It is enough to remember how maxlabt I helped one guy on a diamond set up a stove almost online. Damn Hollywood. Open the thread, read it Last messages and you wonder, where is the continuation of this fascinating series? So despite all the respect maxlabt for myself I realized that Aries is not IDEAL solution. Optimal - YES, but not ideal. Therefore, I am not ready to spend money on Aries, despite its cost. Although it is not that expensive. If you compare its cost with the prices for repairing laptops, and specifically, when they charge 80 bucks or more for replacing a bridge, not counting the cost of the bridge itself, then the cost of Aries at just over 200 bucks doesn’t seem so much anymore.
It’s better to buy a thermopro then. But this is not my level. I don't need him. It’s much more interesting for me to get candy from what I have at the moment. And what filling this candy will have depends on my knowledge, experience and the degree of curvature of my hands. Good luck to everyone in our difficult task!