The setup I have now was originally just a test for my bigger plan. But since it worked well enough I never put the rest of the work into it. I may now though after talking about it some more.
For my setup I would like to:
Cut the 2” thick block in half
Put in a 300watt. cartridge heater instead of the 100watt ($12 from eBay as I don’t have this yet)
Add the pid controller
Add a thin heatsink with fins to the bottom with a 120mm fan blowing up under it.
Put it all together into some sort of compact modular
Then set the pid to both heat and cool. The cooling will be the week link but it will be much better than the way it is now. We will see:)
I’m curious what you do with your setup that would require so much power (over 10x what I think is sufficient), especially if you plan to reduce the mass of the system. Are you doing a lot more than just LED reflowing on tiny 5gram MCPCB? Is this setup in your uninsulated garage in the Arctic Circle, lol?
Are you trying to use the PID and heat/cool capability to achieve a manufacturer recommended reflow temp profile?
quote=sac02I’m curious what you do with your setup that would require so much power (over 10x what I think is sufficient), especially if you plan to reduce the mass of the system. Are you doing a lot more than just LED reflowing on tiny 5gram MCPCB?
No, not a lot more. I use it for making copper slugs from flattened copper pipe. I solder them all together this way. Sometimes I use pennies as well. I use it to bring dedoming fluids to a boil or for cleaning parts. Otherwise just leds and driver boards. I have quite a bit more mass to heat up than you do. It takes the 100watt heater about 25mins to reach soldering temp. This is why I want to reduce the mass and up the watts. I want it to be able to heat quickly. Like 1-2mins. My setup has too much mass as you are suggesting. I also have a 3in diameter to work on so I can swap emitters from one board to another while both heating. So, if I reduce to 3” by 1” I will still probably have way more than enough for emitter swaps but I’ll,have some added flexibility as well.
Is this setup in your uninsulated garage in the Arctic Circle, lol?
No
Are you trying to use the PID and heat/cool capability to achieve a manufacturer recommended reflow temp profile?
Yes, that was my initial thoughts but now I don’t really care about the reflow profiles. In and out. That’s good enough. With the pid I can have a lot of watts without over heating. And set it too whatever temp I like. Plus the guy with the most power always wins :cowboy_hat_face:
My beta version above was melting solder easily at under 8V @ 2A. Hook it up to a car battery and you’ll probably melt the AL block instead, lol. Or more likely burn out the heater element in short order.
The little CC/CV DC-DC modules can be had for like $3 if you get the simpler version without the screen. You can control temp either directly with the settings on the CC/CC DC-DC module, or add a PWM module if you want simple “single knob” temp control. The PWM module is like $2.
^actuall i use it with 16v(sometime even 24v), and it works well(and more power)
The temperature can reach over 600*C(not measure, but it was very hot red) and last more than 10s(didnt test how long can it survive)
The budget i think we are talking about is ” 10pcs cost 12$”