Surface mount soldering is the way to go for small footprint projects and multiple production runs. However, surface mount components aren’t always the most friendly for a soldering iron setup. Imagine a surgeon trying to operate with bulky leather gloves on and you kind of get the picture for what happens when you try to solder a handful of closely-spaced 0402 or 0603 chip resistors with a soldering iron. Hot air soldering is the solution for these tiny components. With hot air, you basically have two choices, a hot air rework station or a reflow oven.
Kevin wanted to take the next step for his home electronics workshop but didn’t want to go all out and buy an expensive reflow tool that wouldn’t get frequent use. After some Internet research, he decided to go the route of using an old toaster oven, a solid state relay, an Arduino, and a reflow oven shield for his build. Check out the projects wiki for all of the details of his build.
