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

[@collinbardini]

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]

True

[@MrPala5]

Exactly my thoughts! :)

[@DS-qm3bs]

Maybe even a heating Plate from a 3D printer

[@arshia.sasson]

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]

Came here to stay just this.

[@hexablend970]

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]

Great :-)

[@christopherhalsall5744]

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

[@jtjames79]

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]

​@@jtjames79 nope

[@dannyboahhh9944]

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]

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]

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

[@alanjrobertson]

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

[@jwshields]

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]

@@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]

@@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]

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]

i plan to do that, it will really work ?

[@paulisfrench3316]

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

[@muhammadFikri24]

Thankyou, still waiting from jlcpcb,

[@paulisfrench3316]

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

[@Mattchu96]

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?

[@CBJ1]

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]

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]

Great review bro😊 It help me alot

[@ameliabuns4058]

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

[@CBJ1]

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

[@ameliabuns4058]

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

[@lucasmeyers8709]

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]

*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]

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]

Stop these spam comments...

[@ImFromIowa]

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

[@oliverpattsch6241]

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

[@k9elli]

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!

[@Geniusinventor]

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]

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.

[@bernardli9514]

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

[@greatscottlab]

Glad to help

[@HackingElectronics]

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]

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

[@MAKOS-ky5my]

@@jackiec498 you heat the pan in the kitchen

[@GnuReligion]

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]

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

[@a1nelson]

@@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.

[@fortheregm1249]

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

[@fortheregm1249]

@@karlkessler6017 well i could see/know what the temps are but that's not really all that useful. I just picked them up as soon as i saw the solder paste melt. The coupling between a PCB and a frying pan is very poor tho so you do have to crank it. and the temps you need to melt solder will ruin Teflon coating of fancy pans. Now days i put them straight on the stove ( non induction electric stove) .its way faster but risky if you don't have the hang of it and i fried a few ESPs like that. i would start with a small pan/ metallic plate on the stove. Just start off but putting some junk PCB on the stove with some solder paste and see how that goes.

[@fortheregm1249]

@@karlkessler6017 another thing that will get you afew times is when you pick up the PCBs very quickly sometimes the esp will move a little, which is not a problem when you are using a pan

[@fortheregm1249]

@@karlkessler6017 if your junk PCB isnt flat on the back side, ie has soldering bumps or throughput components sticking out the back it wont work, Good luck

[@fortheregm1249]

@@karlkessler6017 Yeah i have the glass ones and that's the reason i roasted a few ESPs. They ramp up WAY too fast so you gotta have a little experience and have broken afew eggs. But the dial on them isnt just the duty cycle. it actually adjusts the maximum temperature. also worth noting that the ESP expansion boards you find online actually have aluminum core because they have to heatsink the ESP so they heatup evenly. So nowadays i put the stove on the correct setting and the board is done and ready in 10 seconds from start to finish. But I still would have preferred to have the slower heating metallic stove for this application. but i dont and I'm too cheap & broke to buy a PCB oven LOL.

[@fortheregm1249]

@@karlkessler6017 It is Full on. until it gets to a temperature set by the dial. just like how an electric oven works. ( dials are incremented 1 to 6 tho )

[@ornotermes]

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]

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

[@CBJ1]

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.

[@Lumi_nance]

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

[@CBJ1]

@@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]

@@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...

[@secretwebsite]

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]

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

[@LC-hd5dc]

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

[@JLCPCB]

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. 🙂

[@vishalkumar040393]

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

[@lilmatt1914]

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.

[@gschaaf713]

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

[@vatterger]

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.

[@mjmeans7983]

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.

[@320475123487192]

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]

That is really interesting idea. Sounds worth pursuing further.

[@MrZANE42]

(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)

[@CandyGramForMongo_]

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.

[@alphaprot2518]

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.

[@akul24]

It is so crazy what can you make at home now. Quality of diy things is getting higher and higher so everybody can make professional products at home. All the parts are pretty cheap, you can even 3d print them yourself, there are countless tutorials on youtube and a lot of heplful people on reddit, so the only thing you really need is a bit of creativity.

[@arshia.sasson]

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]

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.

[@rodia_the_smg_guy5575]

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

[@greatscottlab]

Totally!

[@rodia_the_smg_guy5575]

@@greatscottlab it's an honor sir

[@engineer0239]

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

[@fahvm4362]

We need more people like Chris and Great Scott

[@JeSuisNerd]

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]

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. :)

[@antaljani]

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...:) )

[@piratsik7691]

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.

[@UKsystems]

That’s good until you use sensitive parts that need very specific temp curves

[@matthewkellow8859]

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

[@ThePiraguista]

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]

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]

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

[@brucehanson4147]

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!!!!

[@UNVIRUSLETALE]

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+)

[@crazypharaoh9565]

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

[@felipemakara5067]

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]

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]

@@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.

[@seanmcgroty2248]

BTW, if you also happen to have a Voltera V-One you can use it for automatic hot plate reflow, without limiting yourself to the normal software's built in profiles or manually setting and changing the temperature. How? The V-One uses Marlin firmware. No joke, you can download Pronterface and connect to the V-One to issue it motion and heating commands. Use M190 S to set the bed temperature and G4 S to set a wait time and you can define your own arbitrary reflow profiles with temperatures up to 240 C and as many automatic stages as you want.

[@johntoe6127]

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]

No shit bro

[@safetyinstructor]

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

[@UKsystems]

Every country has these and these are still used today

[@grosserboss]

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.

[@ShahZahid]

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]

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]

true, until you get to QFN packages or similar xD

[@greatscottlab]

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

[@UKsystems]

The minute you need to make two you slowly get tired of doing it

[@jack-bjorn]

I have used JLPCB in the past and I and confirm their high quality and speed of delivery. They are an awesome company.

[@Thomas-vn9ep]

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.

[@ANANTHASANKAR_UA]

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

[@viniciusnoyoutube]

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]

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 )

[@narendok2115]

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 & KZbin too.

[@kjtc1995]

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]

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]

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

[@DrakeOola]

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...

[@edwardfletcher7790]

I've always hand soldered ribbon connectors, then used solder wick to remove 80% of the solder and debridge the pins 👍 Overheating is a major risk though and leaded solder is essential. A hobbyist DIY hotplate ? What a fantastic time to be an electronics technician 👍

[@Nono-hk3is]

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

[@rraygen]

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

[@Pit4all]

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 :)

[@strangejmaster]

Awesome, I love the Diy or Buy series!

[@greatscottlab]

More to come! ;-)

[@Delali]

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.

[@caggius42]

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]

he actually did this with a bit overkill atmega 4809

[@UKsystems]

There is no reason to stay with AVR talk for this doubt this is something other people are changing the firmware on frequently so a pic microcontroller would be suitable

[@devcybiko]

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

[@oleurgast730]

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.

[@TornadoStray]

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!

[@nEuDyYT]

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]

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.

[@_a_x_s_]

I remember you have come up with a solution: hot sand with normal frying pan. Of course the hot plate can make the soldering process easy to control.

[@reddot8701]

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]

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.

[@a1nelson]

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]

You are welcome :-)

[@gokux.]

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

[@greatscottlab]

Haha also possible ;-)

[@hippie-io7225]

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

[@allcrafter3747]

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

[@znagy93]

I "borrowed" my girl's old temperature controlled hair straightener after I got her a new one, and using it for years now. No reflow profile setting is possible, but the two heaters side by side give a fair amount of surface.

[@bskull3232]

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.

[@tafsirnahian669]

Another great project. ❤️ from Bangladesh

[@Purple431]

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]

You can do it!

[@dolphhandcreme]

I also had the problem with burned plastic when using hot-air. Finally i found the trick: Use a heating plate (around 150-200°C), wait 10 minutes, use hot-air with 200-230°C AND _most important_ take your time! I finally was able to perfectly solder a plcc socket without having to clip out the inner frame and solder by hand. ;-)

[@rozwell69]

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]

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

[@rozwell69]

​@@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: kzbin.info/www/bejne/a6bMo6KNd9CXfLs Or check @LouisRossmann channel, maybe ask him about "proper amount" ;D

[@jeredek9901]

Just as i bought my own hot plate Your timing is always impeccable lmao

[@harkrits.nagpal6505]

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 🙏

[@MrRvdbeek]

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.

[@Azraelfromgamefax]

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.

[@PhG1961]

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

[@greatscottlab]

Glad to hear it!

[@archerbob6847]

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?

[@juliansowa7622]

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

[@dinithaw]

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

[@junior.juniorrr]

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.

[@micultimy91]

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]

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

[@electronique_et_creation]

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

[@imdoingityeah4175]

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

[@MakeItHackin]

Makers helping other makers is my favorite part about making

[@k.o.0]

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]

@@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.

[@wasddasw6485]

Nice prototype though some improvements can be made to this design. 1: Separate control and heating PCBs. Link them using a connector of some kind. This link should be power only. 2: Build the heater board using aluminium. 3: Mount temperature sensor to the underside of the heater board using thermal adhesive. Use silicone insulated wires and lead free solder to connect it to the control board. 4: Add calibration functions to the software to correct any differences in measured temperature. 5: Space taken by the new setup can be minimized by moving the control board underneath the heating board and using brass spacers to keep the entire thing off the cable. Screen and buttons may need to be mounted on a vertical sub-board facing the front of the unit. 6: Consider switching to a rotary encoder instead of buttons. 7: Add a thermal fuse to the underside of the heater. Just in case.

[@robertneumann9352]

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. 😉

[@fennoqueven]

It's becoming easier and easier to make high quality electronic products as a hobbyist; upon finding something cool but expensive on the market us folks quickly get to work with DIY alternatives :D

[@marsgizmo]

great project! 👏😎

[@timsonsuperman]

Who dafuq are you? 😊

[@hachogonzalez8649]

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

[@greatscottlab]

Thanks mate :-)

[@erincooper1132]

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 :)

[@you238]

I once did some SMT soldering by putting the PCBs with hand-placed paste and parts on an aluminum sheet on a gas burner. Watched the temps with an IR gun.

[@fiordhraoi1]

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

[@greatscottlab]

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

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]

11 days ago are you on Mars guys

[@ShahZahid]

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

[@fiordhraoi1]

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

[@gutrali]

Thanks for this! I have one that could cost as little as $30: I am going to cut a square out of an old baking pan, flatten it well, and throw it on top of my el cheapo $14 plug-in single kitchen burner. I already have an outlet that I can program to maintain any temperature -- it has a K-type sensor on a long lead. These are available for about the same price. Place that on top off, or underneath, the pan square and I think I've made myself an occasional use re-flow hot plate !!!!! My method will be to set the temperature just below the melting temperature of the solder, and then come in with my hot-air gun to finish the job in fine detail exactly where I need the melt. This is very handy for repairs when you don't want to disturb any of the other components (and can be done with any hot plate of course!)

[@RocRizzo]

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

[@kathirselvakumar2217]

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

[@akhurash]

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.

[@jagjordi]

I have been using a frying pan for reflow soldiering for several years and it has been working flawlessly

[@UKsystems]

Can work but one day you could have big issues with certain parts

[@raidmax215]

I like trains.

[@OXSquadRC]

The infrared hot plates are a more versatile but also expensive option as it doesn’t need to make physical contact with any circuit board; even ceramic boards!

[@greatscottlab]

Sounds interesting. I will have a look :-)

[@AKAtheA]

FPC connectors are super easy to hand solder! solder the ears on the sides and then drag a large blob of solder across the pins. Copious amounts of flux are mandatory. The surface tension will rip off any excess solder when dragging the blob.

[@kardis6]

I have to solder LEDs on all metal boards at work, and getting a hotplate and setting it to 70c, I can hand solder them no problem without risk of damaging the chip. game changer

[@greatscottlab]

Great :-)