Soldering with a Toaster Oven

nullset sent in a link to the Seattle Robotics Society about soldering in an unconventional way. Instead of the traditional soldering iron, Kenneth Maxon has successfully used a toaster oven to solder surface mount parts. The "magic ingredient" that facilitates this is a water-soluble solder paste. I wish I'd thought of this back when I had to solder one of those *ahem* aftermarket accessories to my playstation, since the whole process looks easier than trying to hold a soldering iron steady.

Re:Putting people out of business, eh?

[intermodal]

wanker

Re:Putting people out of business, eh?

[I Am The Owl]

Oh, yes, like anybody is under the illusion that the vast majority, or even a sizable minority, of modchips are used solely to play games written in languages that most American consumers don't even understand.

Re:Solder Paste!?

[barawn]

Wouldn't this paste have a higher resistance than the solder we know and love? Couln't a soldering iron be used to heat it with greater efficiency? Does it have any use outside of SMD?

No, it wouldn't have a higher resistance, at least not significantly more (or less). It's still just basically solder.

As for uses outside of SMD - no, not really. Traditional rosin-core, or whatever else floats your boat, is best for through-hole.

However, through hole is a pain in the butt. It's also impossible to use throughhole for more advanced circuits. Through-hole is a dying technology. It's terrible noise-performance wise, space wise, and in solderability. SMD is terrific - you just need to get used to it.

It also takes a fraction of the time to solder this way, and (done properly) reflow has the distinct advantage that an idiot can do it. The parts will simply wick to their proper locations. It's (mostly) foolproof. Plus (if you're careful) you won't damage components because you're not heating them with several-hundred-degree heat like a soldering iron does.

Re:Putting people out of business, eh?

[g00z]

debunkmyth()
{
flamesuiton = true;

Yes, nobody would ever use a mod chip for anything but piracy. The big homebrew ps2 scene is just a myth, right?

I can't beleive I'm feeding an obvious troll here, but some of us are big into application development for the ps2 and that requires a mod chip. God forbid anyone program for a peice of hardware the own.

}

eating solder

[goondu]

i hope that toasters used in this manner get retired from toasting food products.

Re:what do you mean unconventional?

[Anonymous Coward]

There is thing called a felt pen. Combined with such things as masking or white tape and similar products, you label the damn oven with "Not for food - contaminated" or similar warnings.

It's really not that hard.

Stuff like this occurs in molecular bio labs so often it's tiresome.

Hot air gun

[Anonymous Coward]

I was using a hot air gun to solder and unsolder surface-mount components back in the early 1980's probably before most slashdotters were born.

Re:"Accessories" aren't just for piracy.

[Anonymous Coward]

>>destroy original if desired to be 100% legal

Why would you have to destory the original for a backup copy to be legal?