[TriEmbed] T-962 reflow oven notes

[Rick]

Good evening all,

Pete ... I'd suggest a nice 1/4" aluminum plate upon which you place 
your PCBs. Your thermocouples can either be taped to your board (kapton 
is great for this), or permanently fastened to the aluminum. You need 
some nice thermal mass to reduce your setpoint oscillation.

Does your PID controller have a training mode? If so, install the 
aluminum with the thermocouples, train it, and then run a profile with 
an external thermocouple not tied to the system watching as well.

You probably want a HEPA filter on the exhaust port ... though I'd 
provide some cooling in the form of an aluminum vent pipe before the 
filter ... no need to get the filter hot. You can buy a large HEPA 
filter and cut it down to make multiple small ones if you wish (the 
local home improvement stores carry a few HEPA filters ... beats 
ordering and waiting for the boat from overseas). You probably don't 
want to spend the money on an automotive "cabin" filter ... very 
expensive for what it provides.

Cooling the exhaust also helps condense the volatiles and helps reduce 
the filter loading ('cause you can shake the filter off rather than 
replace it every x hours).

Hope this helps,

Rick