USB-C-PD-Reflow-Plate
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USB-C PD Reflow Plate
A DIY PCB Reflow Plate. Accepts 300W from a DC power source, or 110W from USB PD.
Key Features • Hardware • Building and Flashing • License
Key Features
- Split design that allows you to manufacture the heater PCB using aluminum
- Accepts USB-C PD (up to 110W) or DC supply (up to 300W)
- STM32G431KBT6 microcontroller with support for flashing over USB and SWD
- 1.3" OLED display for selecting alloys and showing progress
- 40 KHz PWM power delivery to the heating element + a 970μF capacitor bank to keep the average current under power supply limits
Motivation
I started this project because existing designs had some flaws I disliked such as:
- No USB-C PD support
- Using obsolete Atmega chips that are too expensive for what they offer
- Not being powerful enough or requiring AC voltages which I don't want to mess around with
- Putting the electronics and heating elements on the same FR-4 PCB, making the longevity of the board questionable
This project is intended to address all these issues.
Hardware
The hardware is split into two separate PCBs - a controller board and the heating element. This allows you to manufacture the heating element using aluminium to increase its longevity.
Controller Board
Schematic
PCB
The controller PCB uses a 4 layer SIGNAL-GND-PWR-SIGNAL stackup. It measures under 100x50 mm, so you can get it manufactured for cheap at JLCPCB. 2x 470μF aluminum polymer capacitors are used to keep the average current within limits and smooth out the power supply.
Heating Element
The traces are generated using the Heater Generator Plugin, which uses the Hilbert Space Filling Curve to generate traces in a given bounding box.
The calculated resistance at 20°C is approximately 2.68Ω. The actual resistance after manufacturing can vary, but slight differences should not be a problem as long as the firmware is updated with the new value.
Chassis
The chassis is made in Fusion360 and is designed to be printed using SLS/MJF nylon at JLC3DP. It occupies a bounding box of 220x166x73 mm and a total volume of 179 cm³.
Manufacturing
All files related to manufacturing can be found in the production folder.
BOM
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The list of PCB components can be found here.
| Name | Comment | Price ($USD) | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCB Components | $25.63 | production/Reflow Plate Controller/BOM-Reflow Plate Controller.csv | |
| 1.3" SSD1315 OLED Display | $2.43 | https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008365029314.html | |
| Glass NTC Thermistor | Must be able to withstand at least 250C | $4.03 | https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008996648273.html |
| Kapton Tape | For attaching the thermistor to the heating element | $2.72 | https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33036160119.html |
| XT30 Female Connector | For connecting the controller to the heating element | $2.17 | https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005011848365155.html |
| M3x12 PEEK Screws | PEEK material chosen for insulation | $4.90 | https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009212510720.html |
| M3 Ceramic Washers | For insulation | $10.07 | https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006898159426.html |
| M3x45 Stainless Steel Standoffs | For insulation and attaching the heating element to the chassis | $2.55 | https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005010143571846.html |
| M3x8 Screws | For attaching the controller PCB to the chassis | $1.61 | https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005010666684312.html |
| M3x5x5 Heat Set Inserts | $1.28 | https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005010449185019.html | |
| JLCPCB (Controller Board) | $7.00 | ||
| JLCPCBA (Controller Board) | $14.53 | ||
| JLCPCB (Heating Element) | $12.40 | ||
| JLC3DP (SLS 1172Pro Nylon) | $59.95 | ||
| JLCPCB Shipping | $16.17 | ||
| JLC3DP Shipping | $17.07 | ||
| LCSC Shipping | $14.80 | ||
| Total | $200.00 |
JLC Cart
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Aliexpress Cart
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Assembly
Heat up your soldering iron to the appropriate temperature for your chassis material. Take a heat-set insert, place it on a hole, and slowly push it through using the iron until the tip of the insert is flat with the surrounding surface. Repeat for the remaining screw holes.
Now you can go ahead and attach the PCBs using standoffs and screws.
Building and Flashing the Firmware
The firmware is written in Rust. To build it, install the rust toolchain then run the following commands to install all the required components.
rustup target add thumbv7em-none-eabihf
cargo install cargo-binstall
cargo binstall cargo-dfu probe-rs-tools
Flash Over USB
Plug in the controller board to your computer while holding the BOOT0 button to put the microcontroller in DFU mode. Then run:
cargo dfu --release
Flash Over SWD (ST-LINK)
Connect your ST-LINK to the controller board using the SWD headers, then run:
cargo flash --release --chip STM32G431KB
License
firmware/is licensed under GNU GPL v3- Rest of the repository is licensed under CERN-OHL-S
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