How to Maintain a Reflow Oven?

26, Feb, 2019

Reflow Oven Maintenance

Proper reflow oven maintenance can extend its life cycle, keep the machine in good condition, and improve production efficiency and product quality. One of the most important tasks for properly maintaining a reflow oven is remove the built-up flux residue inside the oven's chamber. Although there is a flux collection system in modern reflow machines, there still is a big probability tha flux will adhere to the inert air ventilation pipe and thermal regulator panel. This will cause inaccurate thermal data readings and the thermal controller will make the wrong adjustment instructions.

The following is a list of daily, house-keeping tasks to be accomplished for maintaining a reflow oven:
Clean and wipe down the machine daily. Make a neat workplace.
Check conveyor chains, sprockets, mesh and the automatic lubrication system. Add lubricate oil on time.
Clean the photoelectric switches which detect whether a board is within or outside of the reflow oven.
Additional maintenance tasks include:
Once the chamber temperature decreases to room temperature, open the hood and clean the inside surface of chamber with a proper cleaning agent.
Clean the ventilation pipe with a cleaning agent.
Vacuum the chamber and remove the flux residue and soldering balls.
Check and clean the air blower.
Check and replace the air filter.

The following table is a typical lubrication schedule example:

ItemDescription PeriodRecommended lubricant
1Head sprocket, bearings and adjustable chainEvery MonthCalcium-based lubricant ZG-2
2Timing chain, bearings, and tension pulley
3Guide, mesh, and cylinder bearing
4Conveyor bearings
5Ball screw
6PCB carrier chainEvery dayDupont Krytox GPL107
7Inert ball screw and guiderEvery weekDupont Krytox GPL227
8Guider support

The most popular desktop reflow oven from RobotDigg China