Soldering Equipment Upgrade - IR Stations

We use Bench IR, Hand held IR and an IR reflow oven. The advantage of IR over hot air is the speed. We can close a solder sleeve in 7-10 seconds with a bench IR (500W) and 11-16 seconds with a hand held IR (250W). We use Raychem IR in bench and hand held models. The bulbs are only about $6.00 each and we replace about 3 time a year with an average of 5 hours a day usage. A new hand held model will cost around $2700 last time I checked. I can get you additional info if you contact me directly.

Doug

There are used available. Also you need to consider the lenses, and cooling fans. If you are a high production it would definitely increase throughput over hot air.

Speed... I hadn't considered that factor.

Thanks for the advice. I'll check out RayChem.

If you have a second could you review this bench top...

http://www.web-tronics.com/3in1insoresy.html

thanks

Do you do mostly wiring or PCB building/repair? Send me your e-mail address and I will send you my Phone Number. I am a manufacturing engeneer for an aerospace company. We use a lot of IR.