Are hand-held IRDA welders any good for SMT?

[rf-fil]

Hot air is sometimes a bit rough when I just want to rework one part. I've found IRDA welders on ebay that seem to have a hand-held "wand" with an IR bulb that should be able to heat up a small area. Has anyone tried these for SMT re-work?

[JayGunn]

I have the IRDA welder set of T8120/T835. I have used it for new reflow of small boards (1"-2") and it works okay, although it's not easy to give every part of a 1" x 1.5" board a perfectly even soak. Although it does do the job I have moved to a used T962C oven which I think will end up taking its place.

But for repair/replacement I think this is just the right thing. Whereas with hot air you can't help heating up adjacent components, with IR you just cut a SO-8 or SOT23-size port in a scrap of aluminum foil and you can really heat just the part you care about.

Fron 2" or more above the board it heats very gradually, and the center of the beam is a lot hotter than near the edges, so you would want to keep it moving steadily. From 3/4" above the board it heats very fast; that's why it's a natural for repairs and a less ideal for whole boards.

Hope this helps.

BTW this is only the 2nd topic I have posted on here--serious newbie. If I convert to the T962C, my IRDA welder will be for sale at a good price. PM me if you want to be notified.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/403773841431?hash=item5e02cbe017:g:1bgAAOSwT-lZmrcQ&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoAUAs0DHgPUSIbcryD%2BmLVdYK2gAM5CAXt43seO661bIkWXKteghxkhY%2BVZLtaH0oOJVzkUfIokVHZN2qA5bKgDkaxYV2AzaRZvXaIK4ZKumq0aXgyWEZC1kJoxSzoqFmry31D52aOqqQq%2BUSLXOq4fg6cReRvCu%2F4pxsROdQs3txMwmWNpX%2BOrWABGFKhTjbqdiyPPH7PVWkr1%2FcooUiwg%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4ClxP31YA

[thm_w]

Hot air is sometimes a bit rough when I just want to rework one part. I've found IRDA welders on ebay that seem to have a hand-held "wand" with an IR bulb that should be able to heat up a small area. Has anyone tried these for SMT re-work?

Can you show a photo or explain in what case its a bit rough? You can kapton tape or aluminum foil surrounding areas if you don't want them to be heated as much.
There are also small nozzles available.

One issue I've read with the IR wands, is that temperature can get very hot quickly (which is why they show a thermocouple attached to the IC). With hot air, at least the set temperature of the air shouldn't be exceeded in most cases.