I'm very happy with mine prototype of Reflow soldering ceramic plate.
The ceramic plate is small - 4x4cm.

With this plate and solder paste soldering is very easy.

1. Just apply a solder paste to the pads (it is not necessary to apply exactly on the pads, it can be quite dirty).
2. Place components on their places (don't need to be very precise).
3. Place the PCB on the heater and turn it on.
4. After 2-3 minutes everything is done.

This plate have advantages over the oven.
If you see that components are moved from their places, then use tooth-stick to align them while solder is wet.
If you see that on some places you have not enough solder, you can add a bit with tooth-stick while heater is hot.

And I tried to make double sided boards with this. it works too.


This is prototype,

Now I'm working on better and simplier version.
Here is the new PCB (just sent it to OSHPark).

This board is featuring:

• Encoder for controlling the heater.
• OLED 128X32 0.91''
• AON6403L 85A mosfet fro controlling the heating element (I know it is overkill, but I like it's slim design)
• Arduino Nano (on opposite side)

XD-JR80 Ceramic palte from Banggood:


Temperature sensor is 100K NTC 3950 (from 3D printers). Sensor can be better, but it is what I have at hands. This heater don't need very precise temperature control, so such a sensor is enough for measuring the temperature.

OLED:

Information on OLED will be something like this:


Heater Project at Github...

uReflow Station. Heating plate size is 4x4cm.

Only 13cm long.


Powering with single 12V DC adapter. USB connector for firmware updates.


Connection for Heating plate and thermistor.


Control board.

uReflow - soldering uESC (0 min 55 sec)

Oh, my, so many new projects... Need to resist, need to resist...!

This is nice, thanks for sharing! Which one of the ceramic plates did you use? 12V or 24V, 24W or 48W?

Unfortunately Banggood is restocking the XD-JR80 right now...

Do you know if there are bigger ceramic heaters that could be used? 3.5x3.5cm work area is a bit limited

I'm using 12V 48W.

On Aliexpress you can find something. I seen round shape with 48mm diameter, or long 7x1.5cm... Or use two plates in parallel.

But if you really need bigger plate, then maybe you should look to 110/220V plates.

This is a really neat little tool.

Great project.

How is this project coming along?

Waiting for OLED to put everything together. Firmware is 95% ready.

Firmware is 99% complete. Now need to put everything together and to do final tests...

Nice project! I'm in the process of ordering parts, and unfortunately the plate is still out of stock on BG
Do I need a separate 12v PSU to power this circuit?

No, you can power everything from one 12V PSU. I'm using 3A 12V PSU.
Heating speed is quite good.

Reflow heater PID control (0 min 52 sec)

USB connector was connected only for debugging purposes.

And here is a bit more photos and explanations.
Case is printed with black PLA. Inside the case is 3in1 PCB (Arduino, Reflow PCB and OLED) and connector for 12V PSU.

The heating plate is sitting on a cotton insulation from 3D printer extruder. And some carton in folio and Kapton tape for protecting base from the heat,

I placed the thermistor (also from 3D printer extruder) between heating plate and cotton. This combination gave the best reaction for PID loop

To finish the project I only need to cut new base from MDF

Nice project! I am curious, If I wanted to make a larger heating surface, would one of these plates be ok?

Thanks!

I don't believe, that you can heat it more than to 150 deg... But, if you don't need high temperature, then why not...

do you have video solder pcb by this device ?