T-8280 Preheating Plate Unboxing/Testing/Repairing 

Thank you! I have some old hardware to use as test equipment for reworking. I’ll make sure I make a video out of that!

It’s actually a good idea, thanks! I guess it would also help with the heat, preventing your hands from getting burnt! At some point I’d like to investigate on why the fan seems to be spinning up and down when the plates are being energised - I suppose the PSU is undersized. I’ll make a video of course. Thanks for watching!

I see an edit just before 36:01 :D But yes, pre-heating is important. It depends what you need to remove. Sometimes even pre-heating with your hot air station (assuming it's powerful enough to be able to soak a large area) could be enough. Be aware that the 8280 is not sold anymore here in the UK because of the earthing issue. And also remember that this is basically a large BBQ grille :) For BGA it's indeed a necessity - the alternative is to "set the hot air to maximum" which cannot be right! Thanks for watching!

Thank you!

Glad to hear the video was helpful. It's an ok pre-heater but as you say you don't want to have to mod it straight out of the box. Thanks for watching!

Having to now pay double is the only Real annoyance. It is always the same basic "Earthing issues" with such equipment + relatively simple fix. As maker / hobbyists we can't just skip on familiarity & 'Caveat Emptor'. So I actually resent whatever.gov.uk more here, especially since all manufacturing was destroyed and farmed off to China in the 1st place.

One day I'll show on a video the absurd amount of warping that happens when you just heat up the middle of a board without pre-heating - it's insane! So yes, ideally you want to pre-heat the whole board otherwise after your chip has been attached, the board will warp back and all your solder joints will be under tremendous stress because of that. What is "8bit micro"? If the IC is small-ish and the board is not too dense, pre-heating might not be necessary. I'm really not familiar with other pre-heaters, I believe this one is the largest "stand-alone" you can get. Then you have BGA rework machines.

@@tony359 Thanks for your comment! By 8bit micro i meant C64s and all the machines from the era. Just thinking how to make desoldering easier and safer for the ICs because some joints are 'hellholes' (literally) and only high temperature helps even with using desoldering gun (>400C), with the high risk of damaging the IC.

@@plinker439 I don't think you need a pre-heater for those. Those are simple PCBs, dual layer at best and no ground plane and leaded solder which melts at 180C. I know sometimes it can be difficult to remove ICs but my recommendation is to - melt some fresh solder before you de-solder - Warm up the area with heat gun before you rework (slowly and I would stay at 350C max) - Use lots of good flux! - Mechanically wiggle the pins from both sides to remove the final solder bridges which can keep the IC stuck in place. I can usually remove an IC without using the hot air station. If you do, take your time and pre-heat a larger area. Some people might disagree with me but I don't like blasting 400C at one single IC. I hope this helps a bit!

@@tony359 Thank You, greatly appreciated.

Ahah 😂!

Indeed, I said that on the video. But a proper IR station will use IR light I think? To glow red you need more than 250 degrees!

inside the T-8280 to keep it cooler or on top?

@@tony359 to evenly distribute the heat. Like a oven or something like that. Bake and pre heat the same time

A hood maybe?

It’s a cheap thing. It’s a BBQ grille with a PID. It works-ish. For the price, it’s ok. But to whoever is reading this, the item has been banned from the UK for lack of earthing. Thanks for watching!