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Physical / electrical concepts

Hot plate / reflow

Heater that melts solder paste under placed parts all at once; how small batches get assembled in-house.

How it looks

Drawing: we never do this ourselves; our boards are always assembled by the fab
A SMALL BOARD ON A HOT PLATEhot plate
Heat comes from below, through the board, and melts the paste under every part at once.

How it works

ONE PASS, TEMPERATURE OVER TIMEtemperaturetime (a few minutes)solder melts (about 220 C)warm up slowlysoak: flux cleans the padspeak: solder meltscool: joints set solid

Where it fits

Reflow follows the stencil and pick-and-place. We order every board as PCBA, so the fab runs this, not us.

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