Im putting together my first board with smd parts. I’ve seen many examples of using an electric skillet to do the work of soldering but I haven’t seen anything for an electric stove top.
Is there a problem with using an electric stove and pan to replace the electric skillet? I thought I’d ask since I have no experience in this area at all.
Thanks!
Let me tell you about my experience with using an electric stove.
It absolutely destroyed my pcb. It fried it beyond belief. It billowed tons of nasty fumes and turned black. The stove was on its coolest setting.
If you want to try it, first get a thermometer to determine what setting gives your desired temperature, and make sure it it stable. Then cool it down, put the board on, and heat it back up.
Skillet and a hot air rework gun are the way to go.
I’ve used an electric stove top to reflow a pcb. I just put a sheet of metal across the element (to spread the heat a little), put the PCB on top of that, turned the heat up, and removed the PCB as soon as I saw the solder had melted. (being careful not to jostle the components until the solder had cooled again!) It worked pretty well.
(I’m always nervous using cooking implements for electronics work, since lead is a cumulative poison and a fairly small amount can affect you. Be careful not to mix utensils, always wash your hands after handling solder, etc etc)