Info about forked Branches and Builds

[aaronse]

How did your builds turn out? Are you still using your DIY Reflow Plates as-is, made or want to make additional improvements? Maybe you've moved onto another project or commercial product?

Among the 163 forks (2022/10/14), the following folks shared enhancements/fixes they've made: @DerSpatz, @Johboh, @ShawMerlin, @brettski74, @vonryan123, @speedcrafter442, @drcormier, @lvisintini, @RailSupportSolutions, @LeonFedotov, @ViggoAvatar, @James-workshop. Thank you guys!

Especially curious about some of the ESP32/ESP8266 builds like @Johboh, @speedcrafter442. To me, a web interface/monitoring is interesting, curious if they're liking their setups, or if wifi control/monitoring isn't that useful after all?

Recently joined @AfterEarthLTD's Discord Channel, since then have been looking at what changes/improvements people are making.

Like many newbies, am trying to figure out if/how I will build a DIY hot plate.

Sharing some notes to here to help shortcut ramp up for others:

• Code AfterEarthLTDhttps://github.com/AfterEarthLTD/Solder-Reflow-Plate
• Forks/inspired:
• https://github.com/DerSpatz/PCB-reflow-solder-table (inspired)
• Decoupled Controller and Hot Plate
• PCB based table
• https://github.com/DerSpatz/PCB-reflow-solder-heat-plate (inspired)
• Decoupled Controller and Hot Plate
• See README.md for details, many enhancements.
• ATMegaA4809 support
• Many misc safety features
• 4 Forks/inspired, at head or behind.
• https://github.com/johboh/Solder-Reflow-Plate (fork, 78 commits)
• Decoupled Controller and Hot Plate
• ESP32-S2
• 95 x 95 Hot Plate
• USB-C
• https://github.com/ShawMerlin/Solder-Reflow-Plate (fork, 22 commits)
• Decoupled Controller and Hot Plate
• USB-C
• Layout enables (fragile) OLED to rest on Controller PCB
• Updates, including 3D renderings, detailed in Readme.md
• https://github.com/brettski74/Solder-Reflow-Plate (fork, 11 commits)
• Implemented ATMega4809 support
• Misc firmware fixes/enhancements
• https://github.com/speedcrafter442/Solder-Reflow-Plate (fork, 7 commits)
• EasyEDA/Altium files
• ESP32
• ATX Power Supply
• https://github.com/drcormier/Solder-Reflow-Plate (fork, 4 commits)
• Started adding folder/files to support https://kitspace.org/
• https://github.com/lvisintini/Solder-Reflow-Plate (fork, 3 commits)
• Doc edits, e.g. placeholder for board variants.
• https://github.com/RailSupportSolutions/Solder-Reflow-Plate (fork, 2 commits)
• Misc cleanup/refactoring, including debouncing fix.
• https://github.com/LeonFedotov/Solder-Reflow-Plate (fork, 1 commit)
• Edits to support normally open buttons (ATmega328p).
• https://github.com/ViggoAvatar/Solder-Reflow-Plate (fork, 1 commit)
• Implemented button debounce (ATmega328p).
• https://github.com/James-workshop/Solder-Reflow-Plate (fork, 11 commits)
• Fix debounce for button
• YouTube video showing how to order, assemble and use:

DIY - 用PCB製作工具 PCB回流焊焊台  (CC中文字幕)  (Chinese Traditional Audio, but interesting to watch whatever language(s) you understand)

Hope that helps. Cheers!

[brettski74]

I built the v3 hardware and found that the software that came with it didn't work. Then I found the vonryan123 fork, which fixed the main issues and got something working. I subsequently forked that to make a few more bug fixes and UI tweaks as well as to write up more detailed and correct instructions for getting going on the v3 hardware.

After all that and playing with it for a bit, as well as some of the online discussion, I realized that there are a number of design flaws as well as some shortcomings with the existing design. Since then, I started working on my own design to address the design flaws and when needing to reflow something, I generally use a hotplate of my own design driven by a DPS-5020 power supply under control from a perl script running on a raspberry pi. I've been meaning to put together all of that into a shareable form, but I've been away from all of this for a couple of months. I'll try to get back to that, document what's there and get it out soon.

In the meantime, if you haven't ordered or built anything, I'd suggest looking at the DerSpatz design. It fixes some of the hardware issues with the original design and is probably the best version I've seen that's available online so far.