Can someone recommend preheater for PC motherboard rework

[dicky96]

Hi guys

So I'm looking for a preheater suitable for rework on ATX motherboards, particularly gaming motherboards and the like, with a large thermal mass.

It's for use with a Quick 861DW hot air station and Pace ADS200.

Also can anyone recommend a suitable PCB stand for these large motherboards. or a preheater that comes with a stand.

I don't need it for BGA rework - I have something else in mind for that.

Something that would help with QFN rework and similar repairs is what I need.

Cheers
Rich

[dicky96]

Thought I would just report back that I bought one of these Kada 832B. I don't have it yet but it should be here soon

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3301...chweb201603_55

[diif]

You'd be better off using your bottom heater on your rework station.

[dicky96]

I'm sure you are right.

I did have a play around with the Kada 853B (I posted the wrong model number on #2) when it arrived last week, and I found it to be surprisingly rather good

The temperature control is calibrated nothing like the actual temperature you get on the PCB, but I found that using a laser thermometer I could control it really well

I had a play around with a scrap board. With the temperature turned to minimum I got about 40C on the PCB. Gradually turning that up I could easily increase the temparate on the PCB and with it set to about 35 percent on the dial I was getting a nice stable 150C

I then tried using my cheapo 858D+ hot air and had no problem removing some quite large BGAs cleanly. Also with the preheater it was very easy to then clean up the BGA pads on the PCB with a 60W soldering iron, flux and braid

My 858D+ would not even touch a BGA without the preheater, I've tried before.

So all in all I'm quite impressed, for a cheap bit of kit I am sure it will have a use around the workshop. It seems one of those things to just grab and use for a quick rework job.

I think if I put an aluminium plate over the hot air orifice and connect a thermocouple it would probably be useful for reballing BGAs as well

I was thinking of uploading a video review so I will post that link when it's on youtube

Rich