Lpc2000

>>>An oven would be nice to have though for larger boards and smaller
>>>series. I have tried to find one with a fan in Sweden but not found a
>>>suitable one yet. Instead I am thinking about rebuilding one and putting
>>>in quarts IR elements and control logic to get faster ramp up then it
>>>has standard. As always time is my enemy... ;-)


The other thing to look at is the heat distribution in the oven, it might give 
you a surprise...

Place a sheet of printer paper in the oven similar to your larger PCB panels and 
do a bake run.  The pattern on the paper will give an indication of the effect 
of the elements.

Generally the area around the edges will be pretty cold and the middle a bit 
uneven due to the lag in heating the sidewalls & generally losses to ambient.

Attach some alfoil ( shiny side inwards ) to the edges of the oven rack so that 
there is a bit of a gap ( 5mm or so ) between the alfoil & the side walls. Do 
this at the front as well leaving a portion as a window.

  Cook another sheet of paper & you will be surprised at the much more even 
heating pattern due to the decreased losses & the additional reflection from the 
sidewalls.

Sunbeam have a AUD$150 oven with convection which gives reasonable results, 
alternatively their AUD$60 fanless unit doesn't do too bad either. We used to 
use an ABB multi-step PID controller that had ramp/soak time cycles attached to 
a thermocouple fitted to a strip of PCB left permanently in the oven however 
since then we have moved to a commercial SMD oven.

Cheers

Don