GIGANTIC PREHEATING GRID: 32 Sq. In (220 Sq. cm)

ZT-1-MGS MEGA-GRID_™ PRE-HEATER AIRBATH
Effective, Bottom-Side Convection Pre-Heating for PCB, Thru-Hole, SMD, SMT, QFN & BGA Rework & Repair

WITH 1,500 WATT POWER, 50 CFM AIR SUPPLY (1,415 Liters/Minute)

Zephyrtronics, the pioneer and the world-leader in bottom-side preheating for PCB's, introduces our largest, most powerful model yet of our  world-famous AirBath™ Pre-heating Systems. The ZT-1-MGS-DPU Mega-Grid AirBath™ features a full 32-square inch (220  sq. cm) pre-heating grid with 1,500 watts of power and 50 CFM (1,415  liters/minute) of air supply of pre-heating and cooling.

Developed by Zephyrtronics at the specific request of NASA, our Mega-Grid™ AirBath is now available to all our customers with PCB's over 18" (45cm) in size or with high copper content, heat-sinks, large ground or back planes. What a workhorse!

The patented protected technology within the Mega-Grid™ AirBath™ presents the most effective solution for PCB pre-heating during prototyping or rework at the bench for thru-hole and surface mount technology including Ball Grid Arrays. Far more than just a preheater, this is a Zephyrtronics AirBath™.

More Details:

Preheat Power: Our Mega-Grid™ AirBath with its powerful 50 CFM (1,415 liters/minute) of air supply and its 6.3" x 5" (16cm x 13cm) enormous heating grid delivers its forced-convection preheating power as needed for those "boards from hell" -- as many engineers like to say.  Beware of imitative pre-heaters with less than 13CFM (360 liters/minute) that crudely attempt to compensate for their lack of preheat air volume with higher temp settings. Remember: the glass transition of a FR-4 PCB is only 170°C. You don't want higher preheat temps, you want a higher volume of safe preheated (100°C to 170°C) air applied to your PCB's.

Loaded With Premium Features: The Mega-Grid™ gets into all the nooks and crannies of the PCB assembly where hot plates and IR pre-heaters can't go (more below).  It is ESD-safe; features illuminated indicator lights (blue: cooling; red: preheating); it is self-contained with an internal air supply (no hookups); all inside a  durable, steel housing for industrial use and long production life.

Critical Thermal Ramping: The Mega-Grid™ AirBath has the critically important industry standard, built-in temperature ramping of 2° to 4°C per second preventing thermal shock to sensitive chips, delicate ceramic caps and glass diodes. The ramp is "built in" by design into every Zephyrtronics AirBath™ Preheating System. Beware of other "preheating devices" where temperature ramping is not controlled and too fast.

* We manufacture many other sizes of AirBaths.  Please note that The MegaGrid™ is our largest AirBath Preheater and may be too big for your applications. Please check out our entire AirBath Catalog Directory where we are certain that we have an AirBath Preheater tailored to your company's PCB needs.

The Many Benefits of Preheating Your PCB: The benefits from preheating are multiple and compounding. 1.) Preheating or "soaking" the assembly prior to initiating reflow helps to activate the flux, removing oxides and surface films from the leads and pads to be soldered, thereby enhancing the wetting process and solder joint quality.  2.) Preheating the board permits lower soldering reflow temperatures.  3.) Preheating reduces the final "dwell time" during the final reflow stage.  4.) Preheating reduces thermal stresses to the PCB substrate and its components when localized reflow is made with soldering irons, de-soldering tools and hot air systems. 5.) Preheating provides the thermal boost needed when working with RoHS lead-free solders without damaging the work!

Digital Temp Display & Control: MIL-Spec compliant, the Mega-Grid™ has closed-loop, electronic feedback-sensing control and variable temp selection with a lighted digital temp display.

For Thru-Hole, SMT & BGA Preheating Tasks: The Mega-Grid™ AirBath is ideal for all PCB challenges from low-volume production runs, prototyping during design or during rework with all component packages such as BGA, CSP, QFP, QFN, TSOP, PLCC, SOIC, SOL, LCC, Flip Chip and Glob Top components. And it easily handles all substrates including FR-4, polyimide, composites, flex circuits and ceramic boards.

Your Lead-Free Solution: Working with the newer lead-free, RoHS compliant solder alloys --- all having higher melting points --- makes preheating more essential to any PCB work at the bench. Don't raise temperatures higher on your soldering irons, desoldering tools, hot air nozzles, thermal tweezers, or hot air pencils! If you just briefly preheat the bottom  of your PCB before reflow, can perform your soldering or desoldering on the top side of the board at traditional, lower temperatures.

Preheating PCB at Benchtop  Mimics High Quality Thermal Profiles on Production Floor

100% Non Contact , SMT Hot Air Solder Reflow With the AirBath and a  Hot AirPencil. Yields Highest Quality  Joints.

 The MegaGrid™ & LOWMELT® Are 
Ideal for BGA Pad Redressing Below 150°C Without Wick or a Solder Iron.

The  Mega-Grid™ is Works Perfectly
with the ZT-7-MIL BGA, CSP, SMT &  Thru-Hole Hot Air Reflow Center.

Digital Temp Display With Set/Read

6.  BGA, CSP Soldering & DeSoldering.  The Mega-Grid™ Digital AirBath is also a modular component to to our comprehensive  ZT-7-ML BGA HOT AIR REFLOW SYSTEM. So even if you are not yet working with BGA's, should you do so in the future, your Mega-Grid™  will already have you half the way there! Because, the your Mega-Grid™ has all the essential features for BGA processing incorporated in its design: industry standard ramp rate to preheat; "post-cooling" for rapid cool-down which is critical to the BGA reflow process; a large and generous preheating grid with a powerful 50 CFM of preheat power which allows a lower final reflow temperature from your nozzles above.

Digital Illuminated Temperature Display: The ZT-1-MGS-DPU, features all of the award winning attributes of the our popular analog AirBath and takes process control one step further...full digital, variable temperature control. A convenient microprocessor control permits variable temperature selection with an easy-to-use "set/read" digital display function.

Comparing The 4 Methods of Preheating:

Pre-heating PCB assemblies falls into four categories: Use of hot plates, use of ovens, IR systems, and the use of forced convection (warm air) up under the PCB:. While any preheating of your PCB's prior to solder reflow is certainly better than none, an objective analysis of the various methods of preheating quickly reveals that all preheating methods are not equally effective or beneficial:

The Oven: The use of an oven to pre-heat the substrate before reworking and initiating solder reflow for either removal and/or replacement of components can yield the most uniform temperature profile as it warms both the top and bottom of the PCB assembly as ovens also do in high volume production equipment such as conveyor ovens and wave solder machines. It's just a little problematic to crawl inside an oven with your PCB to preheat while your perform selective soldering or desoldering tasks on one side of the board. Of course, one can preheat in an oven and then race with it in your high-gloved hands back to the bench, but it's hardly a solution either.

The Hot Plate: The obvious limitation to the hot plate is that not all PCB assemblies are single sided. In fact, in today's world of hybrid and mixed technologies, the PCB that is entirely flat or plane on one side is an exotic and rare creature indeed. PCB's typically can carry heat sinks, connectors, jumpers and transformers on both sides of the substrate. These uneven surfaces on the board present an indirect path of heat conduction from the hot plate to the board assembly.

The IR Plate Preheater: There are many drawbacks to IR which is why it really never completely caught on. That is not to say that, as with hot plates,  there are some applications that work with IR pre-heaters.  Some of drawbacks which have been enumerated in articles in SMT Magazine, Circuits Assembly and in white papers at electronic conventions are the difficulty in ramping temps (some are better than others); shadowing caused by high profile components on PCB's; and if the IR preheat grid is very large it can make working on small PCB's very uncomfortable for the technician (this is a very common complaint). Still another great disadvantage to IR preheaters is that they can not ever truly be "temperature controlled" without the technician having to always pre-assemble an external thermocouple into every board before working on it. And that's a continuous hassle and headache replete with quality pitfalls and problems with inconsistent results. There are more, but these are some of the key setbacks.

The Picture Tells the Story:
 A Comparison of Two Popular
 PCB Preheating Methods

The MegaGrid™ AirBath, Our Largest and Most Powerful AirBath™ is Surprisingly Compact in Size and Delivers 50CFM (1,415 Liters/Minute) and 1,500 Watts of Pre-heat Power.

It is no wonder for over a decade now, these Zephyrtronics AirBaths™ have become the pre-heater of choice of nearly every major aerospace and semiconductor manufacturer. It truly is the one single tool that belongs on every bench.  This is the "Science of Zephyrtronics."  We have an AirBath™ for you.

Fully MIL-Spec Compliant and Approved for Space Applications!