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DIY Temperature Controlled Solder Station

SMD manual soldering for everyone

Labs Project

Based on a Labs project | October 2018 | Find it here

The Platino Solder Station presented back in 2015 received wide acclaim and not just from the Elektor readership. In good engineering tradition, the very fact that the original project worked off the bat was a key motivator to seek enhancements for the intrinsic design. The concerted effort and thought that went into this produced a completely new design which is described here.

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Materials

Platino-based Solder Station, original publication

180348-PCB-V2.01.pdf

180348-11.zip

Gerber file

CAM/CAD data for the PCB referred to in this article is available as a Gerber file. Elektor GREEN and GOLD members can exclusively download these files for free as part of their membership. Gerber files allow a PCB to be produced on an appropriate device available locally, or through an online PCB manufacturing service.

Elektor recommends the Elektor PCB Service service from its business partner Eurocircuits or AISLER as the best services for its own prototypes and volume production.

The use of our Gerber files is provided under a modified Creative Commons license. Creative Commons offers authors, scientists, educators and other creatives the freedom to handle their copyright in a more free way without losing their ownership.

PCB

Download Gerber file

Component list

Component List

Resistors

Default: SMD 0805, 100mW, 1%

R1,R5,R7,R8,R16,R19 = 10kΩ

R2,R3 = CG0603MLC-05E, ESD suppressor, USB compatible, SMD 0603

R4,R6 = 22Ω

R9 = 2.7kΩ

R10 = 18kΩ

R11 = 1MΩ

R12,R13 = 5.6kΩ

R14 = 10MΩ

R15,R20 = 100Ω

R17 = 4.7kΩ

R18 = 0.02Ω, 2 W, SMD, current sense resistor

R21 = 100kΩ

R22 = 560kΩ

Capacitors

Default: SMD 0805

C1,C2,C12,C13 = 10nF

C3 = 10 µF 35 V, Case C

C4,C5,C8,C9,C10,C14,C16,C21,C23 = 100nF

C6 = 47µF 10V, Case A

C7,C18,C20 = 10µF 10V, Case A

C11 = 22µF 10V, Case A

C15,C22,C24 = 1µF

C17,C19 = 22pF

Inductors

L1 = Ferrite, 3A, 30Ω @ 100MHz, 0805

Semiconductors

D1 = CD1206-S01575, SMD 1206

D2 = MBRS540T3G

D3 = BAT54

D4 = S1A

T1 = IRF9540NSPBF

T2,T3 = BC847

T4 = BC857

IC1 = NCP1117ST50T3G, SOT-223-3

IC2 = MCP6002-E/SN

IC3 = INA138NA/250G4

IC4 = ATmega32U4-AU

Miscellaneous

ENC1 = Rotary encoder with pushbutton, Bourns type PEC11R-4225F-N0024

F1 = PTC, 15V, I_hold = 0.5A, 4.5×3.2mm

K1 = 2-way terminal block, 0.2” pitch

K2 = micro USB type B connector

K3 = 3-way terminal block, 0.2” pitch

K4 = 6-pin (2×3) pinheader, 0.1” pitch

LCD1 = OLED display, 0.96”, 128×64, SPI interface

X1 = 16MHz quartz crystal

6-pin SIL pinheader, 0.1” pitch, for LCD1

6-way pinheader socket, 0.1” pitch, for LCD1

Enclosure (suggested): Teko type 102 110 × 70 × 46mm)

PCB # 180348-1 (Elektor Store)

Discussion (0 comments)

Mark Johnson 6 years ago

DIY Temperature Controlled Solder Station... Perhaps T4 is pnp and should be drawn with collector to ground. I also think that IC3 needs a resistive load at its output, as it acts as a current source. See what you think.

ClemensValens 6 years ago

Thank you for your comments. You are absoultely right, T4 should have been drawn as a PNP transistor with its emitter connected to the emitter of T2. The load of IC3 is R22 which has unfortunately been lost when the schematic was redrawn for the article.

The PCB does not have these problems and is correct.

JohnHind 6 years ago

If you are preparing a corrections note for this, Clemens, Diode D4 also appears to be missing from the schematic.

ClemensValens 6 years ago

Hi John,

The completed & corrected schematic is available at the Elektor Labs page of this project.

3 Comment(s)

JohnHind 6 years ago

I love the concept of this article and particularly will be interested to see a plot of temperature and current over time during soldering to see if quality and technique can be improved by observing solder melt.
A couple of details worry me though:
1. There is no discussion of ESD and the need to ground the soldering tip. If built as suggested the tip will probably be floating because most DC 'bricks' are double-insulated and do not ground their output. It will probably be necessary to run a ground wire from the mains plug to the control board ground.
2. The article is absent details of the Weller RT tip used - it does not even give the pin-out of the three pin jack plug! This set me to doing some online research. According to Weller's web site the RT tips are rated at 40W. The article states that the firmware limits the current to 1.5A and the voltage is 12V. This means that the design is driving the tips at 18W maximum, less than half the rated wattage!
3. The article states that the 'heater voltage' is measured by the software, but there is no obvious provision for this in the schematic. Sorry if I have missed this, but this schematic is a perfect example of my long-standing personal hobby horse, the 'Elektor Lazy Bus', making it unnecessarily hard to read. The OLED connections should be one bus, the ICSP another, arguably ENC1 a third, and the remaining connections drawn individually.

ClemensValens 6 years ago

1. We may address ESD & tip grounding in another project. Maybe you would like to participate? Please try to use as much as possible the Elektor Labs page of this article for discussions & comments. I know it can be done here too (not my idea), but it results in information spread out all over the place.

2. The power is limited in software in order to avoid having to use a heavy power supply. At the Elektor Labs page of this article you can read how to change this.

3. That was a secret last-minute addition of the designers and therefore missed in the published schematic. Please see the Elektor Labs page of this article for the revised schematic.

JohnHind 6 years ago

Thanks Clemens. Actually I did look for the Labs page before landing on this page, but failed to find it, only the Platino version. Would be good to have a 'projects in current issue' list on the Labs front page, and a link to the labs page in the 'Relevant Websites' section above!