Small beginner reflow oven for Australia

[rthorntn]

Hi All,

I want to pickup something for a beginner to do a low volume (hobby) small boards safely and with good results, budget is $1000 AUD so something better than the cheap chinese aliexpress stuff, it needs to be $1000 including shipping/duties/taxes to Australia, is there anything?

I would rather it comes ready to go.

Thanks.

Richard

[David_AVD]

If you're using leaded paste the Breville BOV800 toaster oven works well.  Been using it for a couple of years.  There may be a newer model these days of course.

[rthorntn]

Lead free solder paste would be much better.

Is there a gap in the market here between $300 Chinese ovens and $2000+ pro ones?

[gamalot]

Lead free solder paste would be much better.

Is there a gap in the market here between crappy $300 Chinese ovens and $2000+ pro ones?

I used to use a $300 reflow oven to manufacture PCBA for our Japanese customer when I worked in my hometown in China. 

[rthorntn]

I read somewhere on EEVblog that the cheap Chinese machines needed a more height, better heat distribution and a better control system...

Nothing half decent for $1000 then?

[David_AVD]

So this is for hobby use but you want lead-free ?

[rthorntn]

The lead free requirement came from the environmental impact of lead.

[rstofer]

I use a Black & Decker Infra-Wave Toaster Oven but I believe it is out of production.  It has 4 lamps, 2 on top and two on the bottom.

To get the heat cycle to work, I had to add high temperature insulation between the inner and outer walls.  I bought this as a sheet and just cut it to fit.

For control, I used an Arduino Reflow Oven Shield as the control system.  I'm not sure how it works with lead-free solder as I am using leaded.  There is nothing in the law (in the US) that says I have to use lead-free solder for personal projects.

http://www.rocketscream.com/shop/reflow-oven-controller-shield-arduino-compatible