Has anyone seen a goose neck hot air station for microscope work

[Psi]

Has anyone seen a goose neck hot air station for microscope work available to buy?
(By 'goose neck' i mean like those positionable microscope lights.)

So you can place a PCB under the microscope and the goose neck is pointing hot air at the center of the microscope view.
Maybe 100-150C.

Then when you use your soldering iron to remove a part it's easier because the goose neck hot air is preheating the board area you're working on.

[BrianHG]

I built my own.
I found a cheap microphone gooseneck holder with a heavy stand at a local surplus store.
I cut off the mic and added a heavy C clamp on it's end.
The C clamp was large enough to hold my hot air station gun.

[BrianHG]

Why not just buy one or two from Aliexpress?
God know how many they have there...

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All of them...

[Psi]

Why not just buy one or two from Aliexpress?
God know how many they have there...

1
2
3
4
5
All of them...

The hot air gun and it's air hose are pretty heavy, I doubt a normal goose neck clip like those cheap ones would be able to hold it up reliably.

[BrianHG]

Funny, my hot air gun weighs just under a pound, or 0.5kg.  No problem holding that.
Also, if you looked at the search, there were even goose necks designed to hold tablet PCs/ I-pads.
Are you telling me your hot air gun is that heavy?
You begun wanting to buy a new hot air gun in the first place which used a goose neck.  What do you think it would have used.
Just buy the ones with a visibly thick segmented metal goose-neck for 5$-15$ and give it a try.
The shorter ones are really stiff and strong able to support at least 1 pound.

Also, you can search for desktop boom microphone holders as the have screw locked rigid arms, but the 1-3 foot goose neck will most likely offer the greatest flexibility.

[Psi]

its not so much about the weight of the hand piece but the weight of the hose that hangs from the hand piece.
The leverage of that means it will always try to twist a goose neck unless its super robust.

(The air comes from the box, not generated in the handle.)

[timeandfrequency]

The hot air gun and it's air hose are pretty heavy,

Please show us a picture of your hot air gun.

The WELLER hot air iron HAP 200 weights less than 200g (0.4 lb) : the air compressor is also in the station, not in the handle.

Strong goosenecks. Different lenghts & diameters.

I would not preheat the PCB with hot air. Try this one for under the PCB and the smaller one above the board.
A temperature PID controller with SCR (= TRIAC, Phase-Shift Trigger) output. Ask the vendor if the triac is internal or if t has to be wired externally. A temp sensor will also be required.

[Psi]

its just an Aoyue 968 A+, nothing special.

But the point is a hose hanging off the side creates a huge torque on any joint because it acts like a weight on a large lever.
A strong goose neck should work if the attachment on the end doesn't have a ball joint.
but any cheap plastic aliexpress one wont have a chance

[wraper]

Do not reinvent the wheel and use normal preheater under PCB.

[Psi]

Do not reinvent the wheel and use normal preheater under PCB.

I have a Puhui T8280 preheater already, but it is not always the best tool for the job.
Heating up the entire PCB using the preheater takes a lot longer than just soldering a part with the iron.
Pointing the hot air gun at the general area while using the iron prevents quite a bit of heat being pulled away from the join into the surrounding area. It turns a 9 second job into a 3 second job

[wraper]

Hot air type like 853 works much faster for smaller areas.

[Psi]

Hot air type like 853 works much faster for smaller areas.

If i replace my hot air it will be with a Atten ST-862D.

I'm not a fan of the kind that have the blower fan inside the handle.

That being said, perhaps i could purchase just the handle piece from one like that, Then i can permanently mount it to the side of the microscope on a goose neck and run the power cable along the side of the microscope.

That might work well

[wraper]

I meant hot air preheater.

[ajb]

I have a couple of these in different sizes that work well for this sort of thing: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09FT6T34G/

They're the same basic idea as the Noga style indicator arms, except that these have a toothed interface at the elbow joint to provide positive locking and prevent it from sagging.  The included clamp works well for hot air guns at a range of sizes. 

[timeandfrequency]

What about PCB heating from above with a 15W NIR laser source ?


[update #1 : gun -> source]

[thm_w]

I have a couple of these in different sizes that work well for this sort of thing: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09FT6T34G/

They're the same basic idea as the Noga style indicator arms, except that these have a toothed interface at the elbow joint to provide positive locking and prevent it from sagging.  The included clamp works well for hot air guns at a range of sizes.

Yes, this is what I do too.
But for actual soldering so I don't need to hold the wand while removing/installing an IC, almost never use it for preheating. Hot air preheaters in general are not great. A decent IR unit is relatively cheap, <$150.

20" is a good length for this. Then there is the 10" smallrig branded model, which is very high quality, but too short.

[ajb]

I have a couple of these in different sizes that work well for this sort of thing: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09FT6T34G/

They're the same basic idea as the Noga style indicator arms, except that these have a toothed interface at the elbow joint to provide positive locking and prevent it from sagging.  The included clamp works well for hot air guns at a range of sizes.

Yes, this is what I do too.
But for actual soldering so I don't need to hold the wand while removing/installing an IC, almost never use it for preheating. Hot air preheaters in general are not great. A decent IR unit is relatively cheap, <$150.

20" is a good length for this. Then there is the 10" smallrig branded model, which is very high quality, but too short.

Heh, I see you also use a piece of extrusion on the bench as a mounting point, that's been on my to-do list for a while!