I've been thinking about a DIY reflow oven, and found the guide here: http://whizoo.com/reflowoven which seems incredibly elaborate. So I'm wondering - is all the insulation and sealing really necessary? Can one just retrofit a toaster oven with a temperature controller and call it a day?
I was thinking that the Inkbird ITC-310T-B ?controller would be very easy to set up to do this (or any of several other similair ones).
The goal would be to create small prototyping boards, probably nothing over a few square inches.
I use a GE toaster oven from Wal Mart. it was selected because it was the biggest inside! it has 4 heating rods, two above and two below the rack, running side to side. I patched in an eBay ramp and soak temperature controller. I also got a spool of tiny thermocouple wire. The first board got fried with the thermocouple sensing the air. I then got the idea of poking the thermocouple into a PTH on the board, and it works like a charm.
I have done boards up to 8 x 11" in it, but usually do several boards about 3" square at one time.
I have done well over 1000 boards with this system.
I did not add any insulation to the oven, just used it as is, except for the temp controller.
Jon