Electronic – Suggestions on soldering through hole large planes

ground-planereworksoldering

I am small scale manufacturing PCB's I designed for high power actuator and LED control. It is 6"x8", 2 ounce copper and large power and ground planes, with no thermal reliefs. It has a section at one edge that is all SMD components, a large copper through hole buss bar that spans the entire length, and several through hole MOSFETs, and several through hole connectors.

So I have make 10 boards so far, and will be making around 5 a week. I use a hot plate for the SMDs, and that works great.

For the TH components, I use a hot air reflow gun, and use a soldering iron. This is not ideal. I have to put a lot of heat on it, and I struggle with cold solder joints if I don't get enough heat on it.

So, I am content with my method for the SMDs, as with a solder stencil, I am able to solder them quickly and quite consistent. For the TH components, I need a new method. I have a few options I've considered:

  1. Use a IR preheater that goes under the board to heat the planes.

  2. Same as 1, but with a forced air convection heater.

  3. Get a larger spread nozzle for my hot air gun, and an articulating arm that can hold it to help heat more evenly.

Budget is whatever it takes, but I would like to stay under $1000 if possible. Let me know what you think, and if there are options I'm forgetting.

EDIT: I want to do this as correctly as can be done without large scale procedures, these are high power expensive boards, and don't want to take risks with how I heat it, like I feel like I may be doing now.

Best Answer

So I decided to go with what @WhatRoughBeast suggested. I purchased a Hakko FX-801, with a few of their large heat capacity tips for around $1100 total. It has a power output of 300 watts.

I have assembled 5 boards with it, and it is truly incredible. It can heat up any component including my large heat sinks and buss-bar to soldering temperature within 5 seconds.

Highly recommend this iron to anyone in a similar situation