The Best way to Solder? Hot Plate to the rescue! (DIY or Buy)

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You can get the Buy option here (affiliate links):
s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_A1wGk3
amzn.to/3GOuNIt
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Parts list for the DIY version (incomplete, affiliate links):
ATMEGA328P-AU: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_ArWKdp
OLED Display: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AkhcgB
MOSFET: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_A5U183
5V Regulator: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_A3WLNN
LMT85 Temp Sensor: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_9uTxT1
More project information about the DIY option:
www.solderreflowplate.co.uk/
github.com/AfterEarthLTD/Sold...
In this episode of DIY or Buy we will be having a look at reflow soldering plates. I am familiar with hand soldering, hot air reflow soldering and oven reflow soldering and I was looking for a better technique that is easy to pull off and not as bulky as an oven. That is when I found out about reflow plates. So I bought myself one for testing and around the same time a viewer of mine reached out with a DIY solution. So in this video I will test both versions and ultimately tell you whether hot plate soldering is awesome and whether you should DIY one or simply buy one! Let's get started!
Thanks to JLCPCB for sponsoring this video.
Visit jlcpcb.com to get professional PCBs for low prices.
0:00 My Soldering techniques suck!
1:10 Hot Plate soldering?
1:53 Intro
2:36 Buy option test
4:35 DIY PCB version functional principle
5:21 DIY Schematic & Code
6:57 DIY Build
9:33 DIY option test
10:22 Verdict

Пікірлер: 1 100

@collinbardini 2 жыл бұрын

To address the lifespan of the pcb heater it might make sense to have the control circuitry on a separate board and make the heater pcb a consumable. It is definitely not as clean, but potentially more practical.

@greatscottlab 2 жыл бұрын

True

@MrPala5 2 жыл бұрын

Exactly my thoughts! :)

@DS-qm3bs 2 жыл бұрын

Maybe even a heating Plate from a 3D printer

@arshia.sasson 2 жыл бұрын

My thoughts as well, plus having the heater PCB as aluminum-clad to help distribute the heat evenly. These are done with 3D printer heated beds as well

@daltonschrader8328 2 жыл бұрын

Came here to stay just this.

@hexablend970 2 жыл бұрын

This project shows just how awesome this community is. There always is someone with a DIY solution. I'll definitely try the DIY version if I win the discount code.

@greatscottlab 2 жыл бұрын

Great :-)

@christopherhalsall5744 2 жыл бұрын

The maker community is great! I'm glad to finally be able to contribute to it!

@jtjames79 2 жыл бұрын

I learned I need to buy the commercial one, so I can make the DYI version. It's like that annoying situation where you need an internet connection to set up an internet connection.

@benjaminalvarez3459 Жыл бұрын

@@jtjames79 nope

@dannyboahhh9944 5 ай бұрын

I always loved the EE community as well. We all seem to understand the "Building upon footsteps of giants" principle and love to share. Sharing is what helps us all move forward and quickly. What a wonderful time to be in the EE community

@danspratt2 2 жыл бұрын

Hey GreatScott, I used to be a surface mount assembly tech in the UK, just wanted to give some advice on solder paste application using a stencil. Lay the paste down the shortest edge of stencil and using a thin but fairly stiff piece of metal drag the paste "sausage" across the stencil in one go(using firm but steady pressure), the paste should appear to roll as its going. Repeatedly wiping across the same spot as you do in the video is causing excess paste to go through the stencil, which can cause messy joints and bridges.

@schmirus1372 2 жыл бұрын

I may never be able to use this info, but it's damn good to know!

@alanjrobertson 2 жыл бұрын

Great to hear, that was my impression too but with much less experience so good to have confirmation! 👍

@jwshields 2 жыл бұрын

If you don't mind me asking, do you have any pointers for resources of how to do stenciling? I have absolutely no experience in this area and am just exploring the ideas and trying to grok it. To be less vague with my question... What does the general process for designing & producing the stencil that you use to lay down the solder paste on the board? Would it be something simple-ish like a desktop CNC and some thin metal to route out the holes for the paste, or am I not big-brained enough for this and missing something obvious?

@alanjrobertson 2 жыл бұрын

@@jwshields personally I just took the easy route and ordered a stencil when I was getting my PCBs made - was dead easy based on the gerber files. Only thing I learned was to make sure I didn't have too big a stencil (I found the JLCPCB website was a bit confusing on this bit).

@jwshields 2 жыл бұрын

@@alanjrobertson gotcha. I figure if you're ordering PCBs, a stencil to come with it would be a typical sort of addon, that's good to hear. I guess I'm more interesting in doing my own PCBs and trying to think out the stenciling for that, you know? Mind, I'm just thinking out loud here, I do appreciate the insight though

@paulisfrench3316 2 жыл бұрын

For anybody trying to do this, if burning the bootloader sounds daunting, just pre program the atmega while it is still in the arduino, then take it off, that way its is extremely simple and only takes like 1 minute to do.

@muhammadFikri24 2 жыл бұрын

i plan to do that, it will really work ?

@paulisfrench3316 2 жыл бұрын

@@muhammadFikri24 yup have done it plenty of times, works great!

@muhammadFikri24 Жыл бұрын

Thankyou, still waiting from jlcpcb,

@paulisfrench3316 Жыл бұрын

@@muhammadFikri24 Good! Theyre great, have gotten multiple boards from them... Good luck!

@Mattchu96 Жыл бұрын

I bought all of the components and got the Atmega separate. I don't own an arduino, do I need on to do the updating?

@fortheregm1249 2 жыл бұрын

I soldered all my ESP32s onto their expansion boards on a frying pan on the kitchen stove :D

@lucasmeyers8709 2 жыл бұрын

Can we take a minute to appreciate the quality this man puts into each video. From the research to drawings to high quality video, these videos are amazing

@sosexyimsexy1673 2 жыл бұрын

*Only for fans over 18 years old* girl in perfect BODY G BUNNYGIRLSS.SITE ❤️ cup milk god & perfect erotic body constriction god Toro face transcendent beautiful sister like a famous model tricks I do not know Megan: "Hotter" Hopi: "Sweeter" Joonie: "Cooler" Yoongi: "Butter So with toy and his tricks, do not read it to him that he writes well mamon there are only to laugh for a while and not be sad and stressed because of the hard life that is lived today. Köz karaş: '' Taŋ kaldım '' Erinder: '' Sezimdüü '' Jılmayuu: '' Tattuuraak '' Dene: '' Muzdak '' Jizn, kak krasivaya melodiya, tolko pesni pereputalis. Aç köz arstan Bul ukmuştuuday ısık kün bolçu, jana arstan abdan açka bolgon. Uyunan çıgıp, tigi jer-jerdi izdedi. Al kiçinekey koyondu wins taba algan. Al bir az oylonboy koyondu karmadı. '' Bul koyon menin kursagımdı toyguza albayt '' dep oylodu arstan. Arstan koyondu öltüröyün dep jatkanda, bir kiyik tigi tarapka çurkadı. Arstan aç köz bolup kaldı. Kiçine koyondu emes, çoŋ kiyikti jegen jakşı dep oylodu. # 垃圾 They are one of the best concerts, you can not go but just seeing them from the screen, I know it was surprising 💗❤️💌💘

@ImFromIowa 2 жыл бұрын

No! We must admire the dedication and hours of editing to provide this level of quality video research & video sharpness/ High Def videos.

@arnab_blue 2 жыл бұрын

Stop these spam comments...

@ImFromIowa 2 жыл бұрын

@@arnab_blue as long as KZfaq gets paid, “what spam comments” are what KZfaq administrators say.

@secretwebsite 2 жыл бұрын

It's really easy to make a DIY hotplate, just order an aluminium PCB from JLCPCB with one long thin trace winding around it. Use a thermal switch instead of the complex microcontroller system.

@din-kin 2 жыл бұрын

can you please make the gerber files for this please? @Andrew

@LC-hd5dc 2 жыл бұрын

i think a thermistor would be better? thermal switches have undesirable characteristics such as only turning on above a minimum activation temp, as well as the repeated on-off cycling doesn't seem like a good way to maintain consistency temperatures

@oliverpattsch6241 2 жыл бұрын

Keep up the great work. Especially Projects that show what can be done with cheap or DIY equipment...

@Geniusinventor 2 жыл бұрын

Can we all take a moment to appreciate the work this man is doing to educate and entertain us. Man thank you very much 😃😃

@a1nelson 2 жыл бұрын

Your positivity in the lead for the $50. Best of luck. ;) And you’re certainly right - a lot of work must go into the _long_ series of quality videos.

@ShahZahid 2 жыл бұрын

these hotplates and reflow ovens are good an all but i just love to hand solder even the most tedious components just for the fun of it, ngl its kinda relaxing

@fortheregm1249 2 жыл бұрын

Its really is, and the majority of people here understand that. But every now and then you come across an aluminum PCB that needs a ground plain soldered. And god forbid if its a small component. Its basically Impossible to hand solder a 0603 on some PCBs.

@GiovanniIgorCesarotto 2 жыл бұрын

true, until you get to QFN packages or similar xD

@greatscottlab 2 жыл бұрын

No shame to hand soldering. I love to do that too from time to time.

@CBJ1 9 ай бұрын

In the beginning I was worried about the durability about the PCB too. But, having used this heatplate to solder 200-250 PCB's, I must say that it still works perfectly fine. The silkscreen is a bit darker than unused yes, but still the heatplate works 100%. Not bended or in any other way damaged. It's still able to reach the temperature in the same curve as new. (I have the Atmega 328 version)

@polymetric2614 8 ай бұрын

yeah i was gonna say i'd be pretty surprised if that was that big of a problem. although repeated heat cycles are definitely worse for any material than a single heat up, these boards are really just copper, fiberglass, and whatever material the solder mask is. and that solder mask is totally meant to withstand high heat. i wouldn't be too worried about it

@amitkumar6784 5 ай бұрын

Great review bro😊 It help me alot

@ameliabuns4058 Ай бұрын

What temperature do you use? I was thinking of making one too

@CBJ1 Ай бұрын

@@ameliabuns4058 Using 160-170 depending on pcb size, amount of components, amount of groundplane layers etc.

@ameliabuns4058 Ай бұрын

@@CBJ1 oooh I thought low temp solder is still around 180~ that’s nice

@HackingElectronics 2 жыл бұрын

Instead of this, we can also go the traditional way to fill a pan with sand and use it as the hot plate, we can also easily change the size of pan to accomodate a larger PCB size. Well we do have problems of temperature control but a potential solution for those who do not want to use it too often.

@jackiec498 2 жыл бұрын

That's a good idea...so How do I heat it? 🙂

@MAKOS-ky5my 2 жыл бұрын

@@jackiec498 you heat the pan in the kitchen

@GnuReligion 2 жыл бұрын

Interesting, the sand idea. I was thinking to set a nichrome heating wire in a concrete ... the way some shunt resistors are made. One could embed a glass 100k ntc thermistor in there too.

@ShahZahid 2 жыл бұрын

@@GnuReligion you can buy ceramic heaters or just use an old cloth iron both of which are isolated

@a1nelson 2 жыл бұрын

@@jackiec498 Typically with a common, electric hotplate one might use in their kitchen. In the US, they can be found for less than $10. I’ve had good luck using a cheap hot plate, an aluminum pie tin and some fine, sandblasting sand. Some people use irons _ the kind that are intended to smooth out clothing/fabric _ as the heating element, though I’ve never attempted that myself.

@ornotermes 2 жыл бұрын

I think it would make more sense to make the DIY version as two boards, one control board and one just as a heater. That way you only need to replace the heater board if it gets damaged over time. The heater could also be larger and it might also be possible to have a temperature sensor touching the bottom of the heater if the boards are stacked to get a more accurate temperature measurement.

@coopercummings8370 Жыл бұрын

not to mention you could have multiple sizes of heater board and swap between sizes as needed while only needing one controller board

@CBJ1 9 ай бұрын

@Lumi_nance 7 ай бұрын

@@CBJ1do you use 138˚C paste? is 183˚/217˚ paste working too?

@CBJ1 7 ай бұрын

@@Lumi_nance I'm using this one: TS391LT10 from Chip Quick. It is thermally stable (does not require to be kept in a cooled place) It is a 138deg melting point. Easy to work with, easy to clean

@Lumi_nance 7 ай бұрын

@@CBJ1 thanks, my plan is to use this kind of hot plate with chip quick TS PB 183˚C My experience with chinese 138˚C paste is, that it breaks very easy, not suitable for connectors, large inductors, switches...

@lilmatt1914 2 жыл бұрын

i love the prospect of utilizing pcbs as heating elements. carl bugeja has done some great videos on not only pcb heating elements but pcb stators.

@bernardli9514 2 жыл бұрын

GreatScott's videos basically taught me soldering and helped on so many DIY/student projects. Thanks for all the content over the years!

@greatscottlab 2 жыл бұрын

Glad to help

@hippie-io7225 2 жыл бұрын

Very good discussion, GreatScott!! Chris has set a good example of how we can improve the readability of our code! Very well-structured!

@engineer0239 2 жыл бұрын

100 bucks for this size?! No thanks, I'll just keep using my 20$ camping hotplate!

@JLCPCB 2 жыл бұрын

Awesome video GreatScott and amaizing project Chris! Maybe usage of our Aluminium PCB's for the heater part could improve a lifetime of product? Separate Aluminium PCB for heater part and standard PCB for controler part. 🙂

@k9elli 9 ай бұрын

Purchased the SolderReflowPlate PCB project as soon as it was available and it did not disappoint! About two weeks of use and testing without any issues!

@TornadoStray 2 жыл бұрын

This looks incredible! I can't wait to get my hands on one of these. I've been wanting a hot plate for such a long time, though i didn't like how massive they are built to be. I love the small compact design. Though, the heater board needs to be separate from the other electrical components. I would anticipate this board to need replacement every year or two, and a standalone drop in replacement would be a VERY nice addition to lower maintenance time/cost. I hope the developmer(s) are looking through all these comments, as there is great tips being shared!

@arshia.sasson 2 жыл бұрын

I've handsoldered plenty of low profile connectors, and it's definitely a pain but doable with patience. I've been wanting to try hot plates, especially the ironing plate that is suggested. The only issue with hot plates is that you can't do both sides of the pcb, so you may have to tweak designs featuring a high/low density sides

@mr_gerber 8 ай бұрын

Wrt hand soldering fine pitch - agreed! But as it was shown in the video, it's not surprising that it feels troublesome. I'd probably choose a soldering iron with a smaller tip, but at the very least a much thinner solder! The one seen in the video is way too thick to solder that pitch properly.

@piratsik7691 2 жыл бұрын

I've been using an electric skillet. It's big, heats up quickly and does a good job overall. There's no reflow curve control or anything so it's not ideal but it's cheap and practical.

@antaljani 2 жыл бұрын

One of the best project ever I saw on this channel. Thanks a lot for this video Scott! Keep follow you (like I do already years...:) )

@crazypharaoh9565 2 жыл бұрын

These DIY or BUY videos are really heating up! Amazing work!

@alphaprot2518 2 жыл бұрын

Just as an advice to proper usage of hot air soldering stations: make sure you keep the nozzle at the same height, but keep it moving (e.g. circular). This way your components will encounter less thermal stress compared to keeping it static at one point.

@strangejmaster 2 жыл бұрын

Awesome, I love the Diy or Buy series!

@greatscottlab 2 жыл бұрын

More to come! ;-)

@gschaaf713 Жыл бұрын

SO much value in your videos. you were born for this. very intelligent.

@vishalkumar040393 3 ай бұрын

This is beautiful. The DIY version is way affordable, otherwise many can't imagine having tinkering with such cool stuff.

@johntoe6127 2 жыл бұрын

Here in America, we have an antique electrical device called a 'clothes iron'. These were used in the old days for removing wrinkles from clothing (back when people cared about such trivia). It consists of a temperature controlled heated stainless steel plate about 4 x 10 inches. Perfect for reflowing solder.

@nickgur7133 2 жыл бұрын

No shit bro

@safetyinstructor 2 жыл бұрын

Every tool is a hammer but hammers are specialized tools. Your iron is a tool but not a hammer.

@marsgizmo 2 жыл бұрын

great project! 👏😎

@timsonsuperman 6 ай бұрын

Who dafuq are you? 😊

@brucehanson4147 2 жыл бұрын

I purchased one of those big blue hotplates. It's about 8" square which worked great for me as I'm building some high wattage LED's for reef aquariums and horticulture on 7" aluminum boards. I found it on Banggood, for around $65usd including shipping. No complaints about it. Love the Vids, keep em coming!!!!

@juliansowa7622 2 жыл бұрын

Great Scott does it again with a video that perfectly matches what I am working on right now!

@320475123487192 2 жыл бұрын

I've been using this technique for about 2 years using one of the blue "large" hotplates, and actually have gotten pretty good at it, though I do find 0402 and SOT-553 components too small to work well with a stencil. I have a challenge for you @greatscott. While shopping for solder paste, I noticed that the low-temp melt solders come in different temperature ranges, and I thought... this could be used to do double-sided PCBs, which are usually not possible for hobbyists at home. You would first do one layer with the higher temperature solder, allow it to cool, and then do the other side with a lower temperature solder. Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to try this yet, but I think it would be a fun project for your channel.

@galaxya40s95 2 жыл бұрын

That is really interesting idea. Sounds worth pursuing further.

@MrZANE42 2 жыл бұрын

(Edited: we did this with oven, not hot plate! Not sure you can get good enough heat transfer with plate method) Actually you don't need two solder pastes for this as the remelt temperature is much higher than the first melt temperature. Have done multiple double sided boards this way.(just do the side with the smallest (best weight to paste area )components first)

@vatterger 2 жыл бұрын

If you don't have a hotplate yet, but you got a heat gun laying around: Just put one edge of the board in some kind of holder, like a vise or alligator clips and heat it from below. This has the same effect as a hotplate. I have soldered like this very often, no damage to the backside of any board yet and you can control the heat intuitively with your hands. Only downside is that the heating isn't as uniform as with the hotplate and large boards will warp a bit because of that. Largest one i have soldered this way was 100x70mm^2.

@Delali 2 жыл бұрын

Your delivery method and your way of teaching is just amazing. Hoping to pick up some of these tricks for my DIY and Electronics channel too.

@fahvm4362 Жыл бұрын

We need more people like Chris and Great Scott

@JeSuisNerd 2 жыл бұрын

I've only used JLCPCB once so far, but found out about them from their sponsorship of a ton of DIY electronics youtubers like you. And man, I was *impressed* I needed a little ~1.5x2.5 cm board for some LED lamps I was making. Because of the way they charge, I was able to tile together 50 of them, get it in red just for fun, shipped like 2 days later, for EIGHT DOLLARS TOTAL. And!! There was an issue with the first files I uploaded, I mistakenly left a trace going across a drilled hole that would have made it useless. They sent me an email with screenshots of the circuit and a little indication where I had made a blunder, so I could upload the corrected file. Absolutely will be going back for my next project.

@BRUXXUS 5 ай бұрын

I have to agree! I'm still fairly new to the world of PCB design and assembly, but I've got a few board from JLC and been super happy. This year I started a company which depends on custom PCB hardware, which I designed and had assembled by JLC and they've been fantastic. Something really magical about seeing your design on the screen, then holding that finished product in your hand like a week later. :)

@kjtc1995 2 жыл бұрын

I've seen DIY hotplates made using a clothes iron as well. I would love to see a video converting an iron into a hotplate. Cheers!

@ollie-d 2 жыл бұрын

This is what I was thinking about. I’ve seen youtubers use irons and they seem great and the surface is much larger than the buy product in this video

@tiiiooooooo 2 жыл бұрын

@@ollie-d yes, just add control circuit and relay, ive been do this

@DrakeOola 2 жыл бұрын

Yeah idk why everyone gets fancy with it... Just buy an old iron for like 3 bucks at a thrift store, most of them already have temp sensors built in and of course their own power supply, all you need is a relay and an Arduino. Better for the environment, cheaper, and way more robust and reliable...

@ANANTHASANKAR_UA 2 жыл бұрын

This is also useful for de-soldering of smd components during servicing...Thank you! I also recommend your videos to my students👍

@grosserboss 2 жыл бұрын

Nice project. In my work, we built a hot plate with a low profile resistor like the LPR100 10R J (10 ohm). These are pretty cheap $5 to $10 and come in a size of more or less 100 x 60 mm and works up to 250°C (and a little above). Control the heat with a power supply and temperature sensor or with an electronic controller.

@Purple431 2 жыл бұрын

Nice!! I've been wanting to learn how to solder properly like a professional. In the past, I had little success with soldering so this is the video to watch if you want to learn how to solder like a pro :D (Well surface mount soldering)

@greatscottlab 2 жыл бұрын

You can do it!

@imdoingityeah4175 2 жыл бұрын

Next time you should make a video (diy or buy) for a hot air gun.

@matthewkellow8859 2 жыл бұрын

So great to see a diy product that will have a great Impact on the community

@pgriggs2112 2 жыл бұрын

So we’ve now gone from producing electronics to producing tools for producing electronics, with a toe in the water for producing tools used to produce tools for producing electronics, because you need to bodge together a hot plate to assemble your hot plates! I love it! Thank you, a great video as usual.

@UNVIRUSLETALE 2 жыл бұрын

there are cheap 220v aluminium heater plates that could be controlled by an mcu, ssr and thermistor/k type/pt100 or there's already pid controllers prebuilt, you could also use an old iron but it takes a lot more power (2kW+)

@Nono-hk3is 2 жыл бұрын

GreatScott, Electronoobs, and Carl Bugeja need to collaborate on a hot plate design.

@rraygen 2 жыл бұрын

Bumping this. A collab would be nice and make for a nice project

@juniorjunior7179 2 жыл бұрын

Another great video.. I usually do all my solders with a soldering iron, but after spending many hours soldering smd components, I decided to make a hot plate system with an old electric stove and it worked very well. However it is something very simple and I would like to do a more professional project. Something like you just showed. Thanks.

@crazyedo9979 3 ай бұрын

Who remembers the old black metal plates from 80's kitchen stoves? One of these, a household dimmer and a barbecue thermometer and you can reflow whatever you want.😁

@viniciusnoyoutube 2 жыл бұрын

A good addition to the design would be make in two parts separated. One part only the high current inputs and the hot plate for easy changing when the hot plate wear. Other part would be nice if vou have the holes for using a Arduino and the place for the micro-controller, this part connect to the other through jumper cable. You can have different sizes of hot plates too :)

@MiguelSilvaFX 2 жыл бұрын

you can install a a thin aluminium piece on top of the hot plate . say 2mm / 3mm to avoid wear of the hot plate. Great job! btw, where can i find the schematic ? (i only found the PCB layout )

@ThePiraguista 2 жыл бұрын

You should add insulation in the other side of the pcb, as its done in many 3d printer beds, to get quicker heating and accurate readings

@boblewis5558 Жыл бұрын

Do you mean cover the component side? Tricky as it is all too easy to dislodge SMD components when covering the board. If you mean between the bottom of the board and the hotplate ... That makes no sense!

@aharkness5657 5 ай бұрын

@@boblewis5558 I think he means the underside of the hotplate/heater. That's what was (and is) done on the printer beds.

@Abishek_Muthian 2 жыл бұрын

Using MHP30 to solder DIY hot plate components would have been very funny! Great work Chris & Scott!

@northgork 2 жыл бұрын

Just subscribed, now that I finally understand what you are talking about. Great channel.

@archerbob6847 Жыл бұрын

Did you put solder paste over the entire PCB? Edit: Scratch that, I now understand you use a stencil. Could you make a hotplate with a thermoelectric peltier, as they can go up to 200 C and I think you said your solder reflows at 160 C. Does the MHP30 already use a peltier?

@oleurgast730 Жыл бұрын

Actually the project reminds me of the first heated bed develloped by Prusa for DIY 3d-printers. The same principle. As I tinker a lot with 3d-printers, I have a lot old controller boards - some years ago cheap printers from creality used soldered allegro drivers and 8 bit controllers, so one of the first upgrades was to swap the board. So I have some of these creality board, which are practicly an Arduino Mega with Mosfets, conectors for temp sensors, display etc. So I think it would be best just to adapt the software for the Arduino Mega and the I/O-Ports Creality (and others) use for bed-heating and just make a PCB for heating. With controller being seperated from the heating PCB, it is also possible to make it more easy to solder bigger PCBs aerea by area, if you use sinking screws for mounting the heating PCBs, as you can keep the controller out of the way. Also I always like to reuse old obsolete hardware instead of buying new one.

@mjmeans7983 2 жыл бұрын

I've used a kitchen electric ~22" griddle for about 50 USD and a thin sheet of aluminum as an additional heat spreader when woring with large boards. I check the temperature with an IR non-contact thermometer. Works great.

@Pit4all Жыл бұрын

Hi Scott, long time follower here without an e.engineering background. My favorite way to do hot plate is based on a workshop i followed at a MakerFair in Rome: It uses a ceramic heater portable stove (one with a glass surface) at low power, and once temperature is reached, to maintain the pub there until the lead melts. It is also a method that costs less than 25euros, and can fit the biggest pcb you can think off or as many as you want at the same time, with great results, but it requires you to pay more attention. The dream would be a hacked PID version of such a heater with an external temperature sensor (like a 3DP thermistor) . Maybe a cool subject for another video :)

@fiordhraoi1 2 жыл бұрын

If only I had a hot plate to reflow the solder paste on this PCB-based hot plate. :D

@greatscottlab 2 жыл бұрын

I knew someone would comment this. But literally the first comment👍 Love it🤣

2 жыл бұрын

The component count is not that high, and it might also possible to do the reflow with a cheap heat gun. Though I'm also subscribed for a ready made product; I'm not that adventurous.

@smithbrian6937 2 жыл бұрын

11 days ago are you on Mars guys

@ShahZahid 2 жыл бұрын

it can be hand soldered or just use the pan and sand method, it works pretty well

@fiordhraoi1 2 жыл бұрын

@@ShahZahid The comment was meant to be tongue in cheek, there's definitely ways without a plate. 🙂

@Thomas-vn9ep 2 жыл бұрын

Carl Bugeja made another diy version too but the pcb wasn’t that durable, you should try to see if it’s going to last overtime. Maybe the buy version will last a lot longer and it would make sense just to buy one instead of making one that’s only going to last a few times.

@gundula4874 2 жыл бұрын

Nice DIY hotplate and board layout. Thanks for your test - its impressive to see how "easy" it is to create such a hotplate by your own. Another idea could be a sheet of aluminium with drilled in heating pipes from 3D Printers. As a solution in between I am using the ET-10 Heat Table, which I bought for around 40 bucks. It's heating area is 10x10 cm. Heating time is not the fastest but it's doing well. Thanks for your GreatJob! :)

@kathirselvakumar2217 2 жыл бұрын

Watching ever idea of scott and just using prep board to do my projects

@nEuDyYT 2 жыл бұрын

I thought these kind of plates before just as a support helper, to bring it to a closer heat Temperatur and then use hotair or the soldering iron finally for easier assembly.. But I was also thinking of re-using a 3D printer heat build plate 🤔

@bracco23 2 жыл бұрын

most cheap 3d printers don't really go high enough. I used mine to loose the glue while opening a phone (great use), but cheap ones usually stop at like 100-110 C, which is not enough for resoldering. maybe spare parts for higher-end machines like the vorons or the e3d toolchanger might be better.

@Azraelfromgamefax 2 жыл бұрын

I have a really small design suggestion for the DIY version: If you remove as much of the border as possible on two or even three sides, it would be possible to place 2, 4 or even more next to each other, creating a bigger platform. Maybe a niche use-case, but you can see how expensive the large reflow surfaces can get. Actually, that ties in with Collin Bardini's comment about making the control circuitry separate.

@rusticagenerica 9 ай бұрын

Golden video. May God bless you Scott.

@narendok2115 2 жыл бұрын

This time, i can't stop myself to say, Many times(specially nowadays) it happens, when I struggled with some problem, Luckly on the same, such videos I get, like this time I was searching for SMD soldering way, here its,,, Thanks GreatScott as always & KZfaq too.

@rozwell69 2 жыл бұрын

It's 2022 and we're still waiting for @GreatScott! to discover this magic substance called "flux"... It was rather painful to watch him solder that connect at 0:35 without it.

@greatscottlab 2 жыл бұрын

The solder I use comes with a flux resin core that handles this job.

@rozwell69 2 жыл бұрын

@@greatscottlab That is the bare minimum, which usually isn't enough and doesn't really handle that job. You can see joints at 0:38 look bad, oxidized, especially these 4 bridged on the right. One can literally solder the entire connector with a single swoop without any shorts, but you need a proper amount of flux to do so. Here is a good example: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/a9uZpdKIp9HIdo0.html Or check @LouisRossmann channel, maybe ask him about "proper amount" ;D

@felipemakara5067 2 жыл бұрын

If the temps envolved are so "low", another option to build a bigger heating area is to use a 3D printer bed heating PCB. They usually are 22x22cm, but there are bigger options. This would also solve another previous comment about separating the PCB from the heater

@bbowling4979 2 жыл бұрын

I was wondering about this. I typically don't drive my printer build plate above 100C. I wonder if it could get to the 160C needed here.

@felipemakara5067 2 жыл бұрын

@@bbowling4979 With enough power and thermal insulation, anything can be done (including burning the electrical insulation :P), but unless you can "pump a few more volts" from your printer's power supply, I agree that would be pretty hard to reach.

@CoderDad 3 ай бұрын

A work of Genius!!! Well done!!!

@devcybiko 2 жыл бұрын

Perfect timing! (well, 3 months ago) - I need to do solder very tiny connections. And am a "ham-fisted" solderer. Thanks!

@allcrafter3747 2 жыл бұрын

Carl Bugeja has his KZfaq channel basically dedicated to Hot plate soldering with PCBs and though he tried a lot it always failed.

@robertneumann9352 2 жыл бұрын

Perfect timing as always! I looked up some DIY HotPlate projects with old Irons. Maybe i can use the code and transfer it to my project. Also Carl Bugeja would be interested in Chris‘s project. 😉

@a1nelson 2 жыл бұрын

Before the video, I 100% thought that we’d be hearing about a diffuser made from a PCB. The actual project is much, much more interesting. Thanks Chris and GS for sharing it with us!

@greatscottlab 2 жыл бұрын

You are welcome :-)

@ModicumOfWisdom 2 жыл бұрын

Dude, I fancy your videos so much, I fall asleep each time I start watching one. No really sure what do, since it never happened to me before. But enough about that. Please stay creative and I will keep seeing you again.

@RocRizzo 2 жыл бұрын

Very good video. As usual, quite informative. I would like to try to build this one.

@bobcarter6143 2 жыл бұрын

If the ATMega is in such short supply then why not rework the pcb for an ATTiny1604 or similar which are available at the moment. They basically have a 328 core just with reduced pinout count, and the schematic for this only uses 9 active pins.

@orhansenglish 2 жыл бұрын

he actually did this with a bit overkill atmega 4809

@hachogonzalez8649 2 жыл бұрын

This video is just what i needed - your videos ROCK SCOTT !!!

@greatscottlab 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks mate :-)

@Delali 2 жыл бұрын

Great Scott is always educating. Keep up the good work my friend.

@gokux. 2 жыл бұрын

Just a small tip. Upload the code to Arduino and remove the chip🤷

@greatscottlab 2 жыл бұрын

Haha also possible ;-)

@erincooper1132 2 жыл бұрын

I couldn't justify the cost for the MHP-30, but these DIY options look really good! Thanks for the useful info and great video as usual :)

@MCsCreations 2 жыл бұрын

Fantastic! Thanks a bunch, dude! 😃 I'm definitely going to keep an eye in this project! Stay safe and creative there! 🖖😊

@glowing_kitty 2 жыл бұрын

Really cool project, the DIY version!:) separating the heater PCB from the control unit and using a better accessible microcontroller (maybe some cheap ESP chip) which can also be programmed more easily would be nice improvements.

@harkrits.nagpal6505 2 жыл бұрын

I had created a similar project a couple semesters ago for my industrial instrumentation and control course. However, I used an old broken portable iron and a ss relay along with the Arduino and OLED display. It worked great for soldering PCBs and also used pid control. Turned out so good that my teacher had me make 2 more for the lab to use instead of the commercial ones with full sized irons 🙂🙂. So I greatly recommend using that for the heating surface and the rest of the pcb heater as control. Only problem is that since mains electricity is involved, only experienced people should try it 🙏

@k.o.0 2 жыл бұрын

My sons graphics card burnt a mosfet (plus fuse and regulator). I quickly learned, even at 450c hot air reflow station is no match to get anything off the PCB. Normal PCBs bubble at such heat but graphics cards can take way more (just like your aluminum LED board). I wonder, would this be a possibility for such removing? FYI it’s double sided for extra difficulty!!!

@k.o.0 2 жыл бұрын

@@maxhouseman3129 It a 1000 dollar graphics card, so I had nothing to loose trying. I held 450c (my max on hot air rework station) for 20 minutes. The chip did not budge, but it melted the top plastic but the metal pins were bound beyond anything I have ever seen. The board was completely unharmed nor any surrounding ICs. I understand why not a single electronics repair shop was willing to do this swap for me. Its not your typical clean board fresh install and the super small size of the IOR 3553 is already challenging enough considering all the contact points. Sadly this beast of a card is destined for the landfill.

@PhG1961 2 жыл бұрын

Indeed, I enjoyed it and learned something along the way. Great Scott delivered great entertainment !

@greatscottlab 2 жыл бұрын

Glad to hear it!

@MrRvdbeek 2 жыл бұрын

Nice to see you struggling whit the soldering. I had the Same problem. So I had a old iron with a flatbed. I make a temperature sensor on the surface and I can regulate to 180c It’s working great.

@micultimy91 2 жыл бұрын

I also recommend you using a halogen reflector above the PCB, also controlled by the temperature probe. Usually in the industry a pyrometer is used, but for the average DIYer a pyrometer is way too expensive to be purchased.

@galaxya40s95 2 жыл бұрын

I presume the reflector is for additional heating from the top side?

@akhurash 2 жыл бұрын

Interesting video. I watched couple of videos of PCB based hot plate and this one looks promising as a product. A slight disadvantage is you will need a lower melting point solder but shouldn’t be an issue for hobby projects. Didn’t know JLC started offering 3D printing. Will have to give it a try next time I order PCB’s from them.

@electronique_et_creation 2 жыл бұрын

Very interesting as a project, thank you for the video 👍

@alanjrobertson 2 жыл бұрын

Ooh, I've been considering one of these hot plates as an alternative to hot air - very well timed video!

@dinithaw 2 жыл бұрын

PRAY FOR PEOPLE IN UKRAINE 🇺🇦💓 LOVE FROM SRI LANKA 🇱🇰 #PEACEONEARTH 🌏

@reddot8701 2 жыл бұрын

I think buy doesn't win, 100$ for a small plate like that is quite expensive. DIY is a much better option, also you can improve the design by using an external heater that will support a lot of charge/discharge cycles. Over all thanks for the video, like Always super interesting 👌😁

@davidjohnston4240 2 жыл бұрын

I have the small plate and it's great when it works and doesn't occupy lots of bench space which I appreciate. If I had a big board full of 0402s I would be paying for manufacture, so it seems to be enough for my purposes. I'm not doing aluminium boards though where a bigger plate seems like the right thing.

@rodia_the_smg_guy5575 2 жыл бұрын

that mini hotplate is something you could just use as keychain, it's so cute!

@greatscottlab 2 жыл бұрын

Totally!

@rodia_the_smg_guy5575 2 жыл бұрын

@@greatscottlab it's an honor sir

@Delali 2 жыл бұрын

Brilliant work done by Chris

@bskull3232 2 жыл бұрын

Please do not use SnBi solder. They create fairly unreliable joints, and as shown in your video, parts tend to shift before being soldered. I won't go through the detailed mechanism here, but just don't use them. Use SAC305 or at least SnPb whenever possible.

@ukpoetry 2 жыл бұрын

Thank-you. I have been considering this for a long time.

@thebobrobert 2 жыл бұрын

Awesome project! I'll have to build one of these myself

@BrentBlueAllen 2 жыл бұрын

In a college course I first learned to solder SMT components using a cheapo kitchen hotplate. It worked pretty nicely, but without temperature control (just a dial from "low" to "high") it resulted in some well-toasted silkscreen on the underside.

@tafsirnahian669 2 жыл бұрын

Another great project. ❤️ from Bangladesh

$@mikefrachel8292$

@mikefrachel8292 2 жыл бұрын

I have one of the small commercial plates. I made a couple support blocks out of wood that are the same height so I can better balance larger boards on it. Works great!