exxos 3D soldering machine build

[exxos]

More I look at this angle the more I am starting to convince myself it is not going to work with iron being vertical. The solder would come down and hit the tip and the pin at the same time so heat would be transferred. But it is not really the way it is supposed to be done.

The problem being the soldering iron tip is not going to heat up the pin very well because of the small contact area. So ideally the angle of the iron needs to match the angle of the tip which is presumably about 45deg.

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I guess for now I'll start designing a angled clamp. I think I will just try it as it is when my tube comes and just see what happens first.. Improvements can always be made as time goes on anyway..

[exxos]

As got a bit free time tonight, decided to tweak the adapter so it now sits at 45 deg. Bit tricky to do as some parts get very thin. But can probably smooth them out once I can see the real fit.

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[exxos]

So the 45 deg was way out. Will need to find a protractor and measure the angle properly . Probably be something more like 20deg. So wouldn't need much modification to get the angle right. Will have to wait until I get home tomorrow now.

I've been doing a bit of testing feeding the solder though the head. I think sometimes it slips a bit. I think really it needs a drive cog with more smaller teeth. Though its a bit unfair test as I've been feeding the same bit of solder though.

Also made me think I'll have to design a small spool holder to fit my reels of solder to the printer frame.

[PhilC]

I think if I was designing one I would make the table rotate as with an angled soldering iron you can’t get to everything without changing the position of all the pads you’d need to solder without it fouling on the items you’re soldering.

[exxos]

I think if I was designing one I would make the table rotate as with an angled soldering iron you can’t get to everything without changing the position of all the pads you’d need to solder without it fouling on the items you’re soldering.

The soldering irons on proper machines rotate the iron assembly. Problem is they a pain to program and expensive.

Doing such on a 3D printer would mean a lot more work and add complexity. True more could be done. Design one from the ground up would take to much time. Probably be easier find a cheap proper robot and rip out the electronics and put in a printer board. But all time and costs again.

Mostly I don't want to spend more than a couple weeks on it all. I've got a backlog of stuff which needs soldering so I need a solution sooner rather than later. I'm struggling to run my store these days without taking on huge projects.

[exxos]

Got distracted by the BTT printer finally refusing to print due to head thermal problems :roll: So took it all to bits. Resoldered the connectors. Gunked all the connectors up with contact grease. Currently working now.. Only my Z-home is now messed up :roll:

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[exxos]

Had to start over with my soldering iron block as it was burning my brain out trying to work out all the angles :lol: so I've gone with 20degree angle now. Created one block then chopped it in half for the top and bottom halves. I've printed the new top section and will do the new bottom tomorrow.

I guessed at the angle. But the iron tip while angled, it's slightly rounded as well. So the contact area isn't really going to change anything other than maybe where exactly the iron touches the pins to solder.

The proper soldering machines sometimes seem to use special tips which are move of a upsidedown 'V' where it heats the pin from both sides. That would likely be better but haven't seen where to get them from yet. Regardless, I didn't want to go to deep into custom / hard to find parts. I want to use all generic / low cost parts.

If my tube comes tomorrow I might be able to do a very small test run to see if it even works before I do anything else.

One thing I have to do is some sort of jig to hold the pins and PCB down while they are being soldered. I may have to print a jig to hold th stuff I want two solder. I'll probably just dump some solder on stripboard or something as a first test. I think getting all the fine alignments and timing may be a bit time consuming.. I mean I've been soldering for over 30 years and I have no clue how many millimeters of solder is needed per joint :lol:

I'll need to do some more work on my gcode generator as well. I mean I can move the soldering iron based on the Gerber drill data. But then I need to feed say 10mm of solder , at what rate no idea. Maybe wait 2 seconds then life the iron up vertically about 20mm. Then move it to the next pad.

Something else is I may need some sort of rotary cleaning brush for the iron tip. I have seen them on the proper machines but not sure if can be bought or made myself. That would likely have to be powered from the bed heater and have custom gcode to do cleaning cycles after several joints or something.

[exxos]

Found the automatic cleaning mechanism

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A little bit expensive though sadly :(

https://pt.aliexpress.com/item/32989033547.html

[exxos]

Started on my new spoolholder design..

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[rubber_jonnie]

A little bit expensive though sadly :(

https://pt.aliexpress.com/item/32989033547.html

I'll bet it would be easy enough to replicate though.