{"id":52,"date":"2008-07-27T13:21:01","date_gmt":"2008-07-27T20:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/?p=52"},"modified":"2022-12-27T17:58:21","modified_gmt":"2022-12-28T01:58:21","slug":"pid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2008\/07\/pid\/","title":{"rendered":"PID Controlled Solder Paste Fridge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/2706936015_5d8ef1cfd5_m.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"PID Controller closeup\" width=\"240\" height=\"180\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I recently decided I needed to upgrade my garage electronics bench to include capability to work on <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Surface_mount\">surface mount<\/a> components.\u00a0 I ordered a <a href=\"http:\/\/store.sra-solder.com\/product.php?xProd=6266&amp;xSec=26\">hot air reflow station<\/a> and some <a href=\"http:\/\/store.sra-solder.com\/product.php?xProd=6095&amp;xSec=15\">no-clean solder paste<\/a> from <a href=\"http:\/\/store.sra-solder.com\/index.php\">SRA<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Solder paste is a little tricky to handle, because most solder paste needs to be refrigerated at 32-50\u00b0F to maintain it&#8217;s shelf life.\u00a0 Stored at room temp, it tends to get tacky and dry out within a few weeks.\u00a0 Solder paste is also toxic (it contains lead among other things) so it&#8217;s not something you want to put in the fridge with your meatloaf.<\/p>\n<p>I had an old beer cooler sitting in the garage that Kylie picked up on the street a while back.\u00a0 It uses a <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thermoelectric_cooling\">Peltier thermoelectric cooler<\/a> to cool the inside and can achieve sub-freezing temperatures.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/2706932033_352b92fe64_m.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"PID Controlled Solder Paste Fridge\" width=\"240\" height=\"180\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Since I didn&#8217;t want to leave the cooler on constantly, and below freezing is actually too cold for solder paste, I decided to add a <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/PID_controller\">PID controller<\/a> to the cooler to create a solder paste fridge for the garage.\u00a0 To do this, I needed the following items:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dwyer-inst.com\/HTDOCS\/temperature\/SeriesD16ASpec.CFM\">Love Controls 16A PID Controller<\/a> found at a surplus store.\u00a0 This one happens to run on 12V and also has a 15V output which made things simple, but other configurations are possible and almost any PID controller should work provided it supports &#8220;direct&#8221; mode (for cooling instead of heating) and has a relay or switched voltage output.<\/li>\n<li>K-type thermocouple to measure the inside temperature of the cooler<\/li>\n<li>power MOSFET capable of switching 12V @ at least 5A, lower on-resistance is better.<\/li>\n<li>1k bleed resistor to ensure the MOSFET turns off when it&#8217;s supposed to<\/li>\n<li>a small heatsink for the MOSFET (may be unnecessary, mine doesn&#8217;t even get warm)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Since the PID controller happens to run on 12V I was able to use the existing 12V power supply for the cooler to power everything.\u00a0 I configured it so that if the desired temperature is below the current temperature, the PID controller turns on the MOSFET which supplies power to the Peltier cooler and it&#8217;s associated fans.<\/p>\n<p>The only hangup I had was that at first I didn&#8217;t place the 1k resistor across the output of the controller, and the cooler would stay on constantly.\u00a0 It turns out that because MOSFETs have almost no gate current, once the PID controller turned off it&#8217;s 15V output, the gate of the FET would continue to float high.\u00a0 The bleed resistor to ground ensures that this can&#8217;t happen, and the FET turns off properly.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a picture of the finished solder paste fridge complete with PID controller (click for a larger version).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"0pt none;\" src=\"http:\/\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/2706936465_5ae0edd11c_m.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Finished PID Controlled Solder Paste Fridge\" width=\"240\" height=\"180\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You can <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/mightyohm\/sets\/72157606404403515\/\">check out a bunch more photos of the cooler on flickr<\/a>.\u00a0 It should be possible to perform this modification on a more conventional mini-refrigerator as well for better control over the temperature, provided it uses a Peltier cooler, or maybe you could even build the whole thing from scratch using a <a href=\"http:\/\/search.ebay.com\/search\/search.dll?sofocus=unknown&amp;sbrftog=1&amp;maxrecordsreturned=300&amp;frpp=50&amp;satitle=peltier+cooler&amp;sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&amp;sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&amp;sadis=200&amp;fpos=94131&amp;sabfmts=1&amp;saobfmts=insif&amp;ftrt=1&amp;ftrv=1&amp;saprclo=&amp;saprchi=&amp;fsop=1%26fsoo%3D1&amp;fgtp=\">Peltier cooler off ebay.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I recently decided I needed to upgrade my garage electronics bench to include capability to work on surface mount components.\u00a0 I ordered a hot air reflow station and some no-clean solder paste from SRA. Solder paste is a little tricky to handle, because most solder paste needs to be refrigerated at 32-50\u00b0F to maintain it&#8217;s &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2008\/07\/pid\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">PID Controlled Solder Paste Fridge<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[25,22,20,24],"class_list":["post-52","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-electronics","tag-hack","tag-peltier","tag-pid","tag-project"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/sioCd-pid","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1318,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/02\/sparkfun-stencil-and-solder-paste-class-notes\/","url_meta":{"origin":52,"position":0},"title":"Sparkfun Stencil and Solder Paste Class Notes","author":"Jeff","date":"February 12, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, Sparkfun had a solder paste stencil class at their HQ in Boulder, CO. @esawdust was there and took lots of great photos and notes about the class: Sparkfun Stencil and Solder Paste Class | PCB, Solder Paste | sawdust.see-do.org Wish I could have been there, it looks like everyone\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Books and Resources&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Books and Resources","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/books-and-resources\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sparkfun Electronics Solder Paste Stencil Demo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/sfesolderpastestencil08.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1010,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/diy-pid-controlled-soldering-hotplate\/","url_meta":{"origin":52,"position":1},"title":"DIY PID Controlled Soldering Hotplate","author":"Jeff","date":"January 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"In preparation for my Arduino-based AVR HV Programmer boards coming back, I decided to step up my home lab surface mount soldering capabilities. Step one was to find a cheap stereo zoom microscope on ebay, with 7-32X magnification, perfect for working on surface mount devices.\u00a0 One of my biggest frustrations\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Electronics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Electronics","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/electronics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/3201234462_c0a761b898_o.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/3201234462_c0a761b898_o.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/3201234462_c0a761b898_o.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/3201234462_c0a761b898_o.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/3201234462_c0a761b898_o.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/3201234462_c0a761b898_o.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2079,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/celebrating-one-year-of-hacks-and-projects-at-mightyohm-com\/","url_meta":{"origin":52,"position":2},"title":"Celebrating one year of hacks and projects at mightyohm.com!","author":"Jeff","date":"July 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Wow!\u00a0 I can't believe it's been a year! Based on the date of my first post, last Wednesday marked the one year anniversary of my blog. While I pour a toast, here are a few highlights of the past year: PID Controlled Solder Paste Fridge The first project I documented\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Events&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"PID Controller closeup","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/2706936015_5d8ef1cfd5.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1646,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/04\/new-mightyohmcom-discussion-forums\/","url_meta":{"origin":52,"position":3},"title":"New MightyOhm.com Discussion Forums","author":"Jeff","date":"April 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Head on over to the new MightyOhm.com Forums to discuss projects from the blog and chat with other members of our small (but awesome) community! At the moment there are forums for: My Wifi Radio project The AVR HV Rescue Shield My Bluetooth Handset Hack The DIY PID Controlled Soldering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Books and Resources&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Books and Resources","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/books-and-resources\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A new forum for each major project on the site!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/forums.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3410,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2010\/12\/changes-to-the-mightyohm-wiki\/","url_meta":{"origin":52,"position":4},"title":"Changes to the MightyOhm Wiki","author":"Jeff","date":"December 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been making some changes and additions to the MightyOhm Wiki over the past few days. To complement the awesome list of surplus electronics shops, I started creating wiki pages for the various projects I have previously documented on the blog. Last night I added\u00a0a list of cheap PID controllers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Books and Resources&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Books and Resources","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/books-and-resources\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"projects:hotplate","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mightyohm.com\/files\/flickr\/5251955045_dc19735278.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1823,"url":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/keiths-hotplate-and-pid-controller-teardown-pics\/","url_meta":{"origin":52,"position":5},"title":"Keith&#8217;s Hotplate and PID Controller Teardown Pics","author":"Jeff","date":"May 18, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Keith of Keith's Electronics Blog made a PID-Controlled Soldering Hotplate based on the one I fabricated earlier this year.\u00a0 He's already using it to build the stepper controller PCB for the MakerBot CupCake CNC! He also posted a bunch of teardown photos (like the one shown below) of the CD101\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Electronics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Electronics","link":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/category\/electronics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www2.neufeld.newton.ks.us\/images\/electronics\/2009\/05\/03\/DSCN3673_mid.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15779,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions\/15779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mightyohm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}