Brusque:

Go to Walmart and buy the cheapest hotplate you can find that goes > 200c.
Pref 225-250c as a lot of solder paste has a thermal profile that doesn't
reflow properly until ~210-220c.

I'm using a cheap (CDN$20) hotplate I got at Canadian Tire (Canadian
discount chain). I also have a Fischer-Scientific lab hotplate with ceramic
plate (even heat distribution), but I'm preferring the hotplate as:

- It doesn't have a magnetic strirrer built-in!!! (Read: I don't really like
cooking SMT/SMD parts next to magnetics)
- The hotplate has a lipped side -- less chance of accidentally side-swiping
a hot part off of it.

Incidentally, I was hand soldering SOT-23-5s the other day. As others have
mentioned, you'd be amazed what you can do with hand soldering!

-marc


On 10/14/06, brusque@hotpop.com <brusque@hotpop.com> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
>      at the link bellow, they talk about using an electric hotplate for
> SMT soldering:
> http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorial/ReflowToaster/reflow-hotplate.htm
>
>      I'm amazed by this. Seend to be a very cool (well, hot actually
> <grin>) way to solder SMT boards.
>
>      I know that there's some very interesting industrial hotplates with
> larger and more uniform heating areas and digital heating control.
>
>      Is there anybody here using hotplaters for SMT soldering? Any idea
> where can I buy a good one in Brazil or USA?
>
>      Best regards,
>
>      Brusque
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