Reflow Oven Controller With Graphic LCD

Reflow Controller

A reflow oven is one of the most useful tools you will ever have, and if you haven’t built one yet, now is as good a time as any. [0xPIT’s] Arduino based reflow oven controller with a graphic LCD is one of the nicest reflow controllers we’ve seen.

Having a reflow oven opens up a world of possibilities. All of those impossible to solder surface mount devices are now easier than ever. Built around the Arduino Pro Micro and an Adafruit TFT color LCD, this project is very straight forward. You can either make your own controller PCB, or use [0xPIT’s] design. His design is built around two solid state relays, one for the heating elements and one for the convection fan. “The software uses PID control of the heater and fan output for improved temperature stability.” The project write-up is also on github, so be sure to scroll down and take a look at the README.

All you need to do is build any of the laser cutters and pick and place machines that we have featured over the years, and you too can have a complete surface mount assembly line!

32 thoughts on “Reflow Oven Controller With Graphic LCD

        1. I was just wondering how to make the PCB.
          I reckon I need a Solder Reflow Oven, with controller – in order to make a Solder Reflow Oven Controller.
          Maybe someone like AdaFruit will offer a kit…

  1. That looks nicely done. I just in the middle of a reflow build myself using the same LCD. I’m hoping to make it simpler and lower cost by using a MSP430AFE252 to directly measure the thermocouple output and save the need for a MAX31855. Not proven the concept will work yet though. (I’ve got a MAX31855 to check my measurements against, so may just fall back to that.)

    Whilst testing if my oven was up to the job, I actually got surprisingly good results using a cheap eBay thermocouple with LCD display and just turning the oven off manually when it got to the reflow temperature. A very cheap reflow oven controller with meat-based PID control!

  2. I see that you’ve added some 60Hz support, but what changes do you think would be required to support US/Canada 120VAC? I’m guessing that the relays would have to be changed, since they only either support 100VAC/50Hz or 200VAC/50Hz.

  3. This looks like a very nice job. I was wondering, if you were to use the Adafruit MAX31855 breakout board and just have a socket for it to plug in, you could eliminate the surface mount components.
    I’ve been messing around with a project based on an UNO with the breakout board as well and I think I could make this Sketch work with it. I uploaded the .PDE file to my UNO and it loaded OK.

  4. This is really nice work. I was working on the same thing only in Python driven by a PC so I could keep a library of profiles, but I’ve found that chips are remarkably resilient to variations in the reflow profile, so maybe I’ll just build this one instead.

    Thank you!

  5. This is not the first reflow oven I see with a fancy LCD interface, and I must say I don’t really understand the benefit of this approach. I think it would be much better letting a PC handle all the GUI and the oven controller should concentrate on its primary task – keeping the temperature profile as desired.

  6. Can someone help me with this:

    I use the max6675 instead off the max31855. I don’t know how to change the code to get it working.

    On the arduino pro mini I have connected it like this:

    SO – arduino pin 12
    CS – arduino pin 3
    SCK – arduino pin 13

    Is it possible to change the code to use with the max6675?

  7. Is there anyone selling this as a kit with all the individual components and the PCB? I know the creator was selling kits for a while on tindie but he’s stopped. I guess I’m finding it hard to source all the parts from the BOM.

    1. Resistors are 1W metal film resisors. Due to switching frequencies, for reduce noise on the board, it may be better to use carbon film resistors instead.
      If there are poeple interested, i modify the board with Kicad and a classic linear power supply with its transformer 230V/6Vac 4VA is added. For insure the integrity of analog signals, it is better than switching PSU, The connectors are also changed. I use Phoenix contact like connectors with 3.81 (MCV series) and 5.08mm pitch (MKDS series) and coolers (sk104-PAD) are also changed with a model aviable on Aliexpress.where If found all the components for a total amount of +/- 40€ (included the fiberglass welding dek). I’ve still not test it. A maked proto will be done by eurocircuits. The total amount will turn around 120€ for a reflow oven.
      By the way, i can give you the kicad files if you want.

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