Hand-held soldering station

During the repair of microcircuits, the motherboard of the computer it is necessary to use a soldering iron. But it is not always convenient to use, because it quickly overheats, there is no possibility to regulate the temperature. And then a mobile advanced soldering station is needed. With her own hands learned to create folk craftsmen.

One option is to create a soldering station, which is placed in the power supply unit (more precisely, its body) from a soldering iron, eighty-five by fifty-five to sixty-five millimeters, with the possibility of connecting an old EPSN. To create a soldering station, you need to purchase a resistive soldering iron with a heater, a resistive sensor and an additional wedge-shaped tip 1.6 millimeters.

A thermocouple from a multimeter of Chinese manufacture is built in the EPSN. The controller board got forty-three by thirty-three millimeters. Portable digital soldering station, assembled by hand, informs on readiness for work of soldering irons with inscriptions on the display. After startup, the controller turns on the ACT and reads the voltage level at the inputs PC0, PC1. In the event that it is equal to the supply voltage, then there are no soldering irons, and the display shows "Err" indicating an error.

When the voltage at one of the inputs is less than 4.5 Volts, then you can choose a soldering iron either resistive or thermocouple. And for everyone you can use the keys to adjust the temperature. A flashing dot appears on the display to indicate which device is selected. The power of the soldering iron can be controlled by PWM modulation with the VT1 key.

When the soldering station is assembled with your own hands, you can do without additional transistors, because with a current of 2 mA, an intensive and bright glow will be obtained. The cathodes are directly connected to the ports of the controller. The indicator should be soldered to the board with thin wires and fixed from the back side with a hot-melt adhesive.

To place the buttons and the display, it is necessary to make holes in the front panel of the case. Draw a panel in the mirror image print on a transparent film, glue the two-sided white tape on the side of the toner, cut off around the perimeter of the pattern and then paste on the body. For the convenience of the button, it is better to glue to the panel using a hot melt adhesive.

For installation work with large boards, such as a motherboard for PCs or laptops, an infrared soldering station is suitable , it's also possible to make it yourself. For soldering, when surface mounting of a PCB and its components (eg BGA) is installed, either hot air or infrared radiation is suitable.

The device itself consists of a control unit in a separate housing. It has two heaters and board mounts. The top position can be changed depending on the fixed board. The bottom heater is a burner for electric stoves with a capacity of two kilowatts and a diameter of two hundred and twenty millimeters. The upper heater is four tubular halogen lamps. Each of them - 150 watts each. Thus, the soldering station, assembled with its own hands, acquires a complete look.

A tripod can be made from racks from a dot matrix printer. The rest of the details are also borrowed from old computer technology. The indicator is a two-line liquid crystal module and a controller. Instead of pulse transformers, it is better to use the seven-core and their radiators. It must be remembered that caution is needed when installing them, since the seven-strings are live. In addition to these necessary parts, a power supply unit is required for the soldering station, providing a current through two channels, a keyboard, a display, an audible alarm and a zero detector.

If you have created a soldering station with your own hands, it is important to know and some safety rules when working with it. For example, you should not allow halogen lamps to be stained with fat. Therefore, they must be thoroughly wiped with acetone or gasoline, and wear protective goggles from the sun before starting work.