Vapour Phase Soldering

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David Ramsden
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Aug 11, 2021 4:09 am

Vapour Phase Soldering

Post by David Ramsden »

The thing that originally caused my browser to land on the Coulters Smithing website was my interest in Vapour Phase soldering. I was looking to assemble some boards that had TO220 components which needed to be soldered, where the back of the component is one of the connection points. That sold of thing is turning up more often, together with large components such as transformers sitting next to very small components. The disparity in thermal mass is a problem that VP is perfect for solving. I produce low volumes of boards, until they hit large enough numbers to outsource to a sub-contract assembly house. So I was looking for either a low cost VP machine, or a DIY solution. The search engine found the Coulters Smithing pages relating to VP and I decided to go the DIY route.

The current result was this machine:
VP machine.jpg
It consists of a heated reservoir of the VP liquid which is insulated, and a carrier that is controlled by a PC. The carrier is lowered into the vapour at a variable speed, which allows the temperature profile to be adjusted, dwell times set and so on. There is more to be done - mainly around evaporative losses of the liquid, but so far it has pumped out more than a thousand boards, with pretty good results...

Regards,

David
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johnf
Posts: 434
Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2010 3:51 pm
Location: Wellington New Zealand
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Re: Vapour Phase Soldering

Post by johnf »

Sorry I'm up to my neck in shifting after 40 years in this place David.

I'll post soon but many bins of good crap have gone to the tip
150+ RF duplexers both VHF and UHF are part of the cull
huge skips to the tip i have stopped looking!!
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David Ramsden
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Aug 11, 2021 4:09 am

Re: Vapour Phase Soldering

Post by David Ramsden »

No worries John. Sounds like quite an upheaval. Must be difficult getting rid of all that stuff. I hope you are going somewhere nice to compensate; I've always rather liked those hills on the western Hutt Valley.

Regards,

David
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johnf
Posts: 434
Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2010 3:51 pm
Location: Wellington New Zealand
Contact:
Contact johnf

Re: Vapour Phase Soldering

Post by johnf »

Yep presently for the next 15 days I'm in Horokiwi
then I'll be in Norfolk Road Carterton
Workshop lathes mills welders have already gone over the hill

your project looks fine -We did have one of these @ AWA when I worked there great for cleaning up an Alternator out of a diesel car
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