Does it exist: Tiny hotplate for LED/MCPCB reflowing?

I’m a noob and have only reflowed a handful of LEDs onto MCPCBs in my life. I’m using my helping hands to hold the MCPCB, and my 250W soldering gun held to the bottom of the MCPCB to heat it. It is awkward because the helping hands are not the firmest method to hold the MCPCB - they flex if I try to put pressure on the gun pushing up against the MCPCB, or push down on the LED to seat it.

The stovetop method seems awkward, plus my stove is crappy and hard to control temperture.

I’d like something a little more elegant/ergonomic.

I was thinking of a small hot plate - more like the kind meant for heating beakers in science labs, not heating skillets in a small apartment. Something I could easily store, and find room for on my workbench.

More like this:

And not this:

Unfortunately after rudimentary googling, the “scientific” hot plates are hundreds of dollars :exclamation: , and the “small appartment” hot plates are more budget friendly (~$20).

Any thoughts or ideas?

something like this?

or search for camping hot plates

Those “lab” things are obviously way overpriced.
Soldering guns also suck.
So you should get a normal soldering iron and a “thing” where you can stick the soldering bit in so it gets hot enough to reflow LEDs.
Basically a small block of aluminium with a hole in it.
And i need something like that too.
The ‘helping hand’ (or 3rd hand) works, but it would be nice to have something that is level by itself.
I haven’t found the perfect solution yet, but i am also looking for it.
>1 Kilowatt kitchen appliances aren’t it.

I do have a temp controlled soldering station, and I could easily drill a hole in a 25x25x15mm scrap of Aluminum I have laying around.

Do you think that would work? I’m thinking I’d have to really crank up the temp on the soldering station and it would kill my tips and possibly heating element quickly.

I really like that concept though!

You could always use the helping hands paired with a hot air station. You can get them for like $30 on ebay. It can help with more than just reflowing LEDs.

Hmm, I hadn’t even considered a hot air station. Will $30 get me a decent one, or one that I’m going to regret buying and wind up spending $100 more, a couple months from now?

A mini frying pan and torch gun lol

A cylindrical heating cartridge pressed into a hole in a small block of aluminum would work. I used the ceramic heating cartridge from an old 100watt soldering iron. I drilled a half inch hole into the side of a 3” diameter by 2” thick piece of aluminum. I also have a temperature controller but haven’t used that part yet.

If I were to do it again I would use 3” by 1” and a 200watt heater cartridge. As it is now it takes about 20mins to heat up and 1.5 hours to cool if not heatsinked or cooled with a pan or something else to pull away the heat.

It’s not ideal but it works well

I bought one for $30 off of eBay recently and it works well. I think other board
members have bought similar ones and not many complaints.

This is what I do:

Edit:

I’ve only ever used long nose pliars and a jet flame lighter :blush:

I’m sure it will.
The block shouldn’t be large though, or ti will take ages to heat, of it will radiate and air-cool too much.

When you have a good heat conduction between soldering iron and the alu block, it will just heat it up until the thermostat ends it.
Usually those soldering stations are around 60 Watts, so i see no problem.
It may take a while to reach that 200°C though. (depending on size of alu block and ambient temp. and airflow, etc…)

Had to look up the post from three years ago… this is what I made back then. My reflow skills have improved a lot since then but I still use the exact same contraption, it works well;

Yeah, that’s the idea. :+1:

And with an only 30 Watts soldering iron?

But in that topic someone suggested this:
https://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10002875/1214600-150w-temperature-controlled-soldering-pot
I’m not sure what the mains voltage is in AU,but it has a AU plug.
It’s not ideal, but it’s cheap, stable and regulated.

Au is 230v.

What is wrong with using the 2nd electric hot plate pictured in the OP or a 6” electric skillet like this?

I have always just balanced the PCB on the side of my soldering iron barrel and have gotten good results. No special anything needed.

When I was a kid, my parents had an automotive vinyl seat repair kit that included a soldering iron type of tool with a flat paddle tip like pictured below. I’m curious if one of those would work for reflow.

could a copper bar be used instead of aluminium? Heat up the bar with a gasburner with the star on it. Or would the heat release unhealthy gasses from the copper?

A hot air station is great if you plan on reflowing tiny components on pcb's. If not, get one of these. Often on sale for about $8. Just put your star, solder paste, and led in a helping hand. The heat from below and with in seconds, it is reflowed. Very easy to control the level of heat by the distance you hold the gun from the base. Plus you can remove the heat instantly with a flick of your hand. Less stress on the LED/base and no disturbing the LED as the solder cools. You'll never reflow by another method again.

ImA4Wheeler, I already have one of those in my garage! It has two heat settings: 1. Hot as Frick, and 2. Auto-ignition of anything within 12 inches. Lol.

I had not even considered using it as hot air for reflow, but I’ll certainly give it a shot now that mention it.