Reusable Heat Shield for an Oven Reflow

First thing's first: I am not responsible for what you do. Simple as that.

I made a reusable heat shield and tested it out on 2 junk boards, an hdmi (zephyr) and the non-hdmi xenon. As far as I can tell, both trials went great. No swollen or leaky capacitors.

What i used: Foil and plaster cloth. The plaster cloth or a similar item called rigid wrap can be bought at hobby shops, Joanne Fabrics, Michaels and I'm sure from other places. It's $10 per roll. This one I used is made by Woodland Scenic, in case you need to order it online.
I also used some wax paper.
I would strongly recommended you use a junk board to build this molding on. Otherwise, try to be neat when doing the plaster part. Clean the board very well afterwards.

At first I used torn jeans and painters tape for more insulation. But the jeans were a pain to work with so I took them out. There was still tape in there. The tape didnt burn.

Wrap everything you want to protect in foil. I used a few layers. I then put some wax paper down to help keep the board clean.

Now cut your plaster cloth into strips. Dip a strip into some water, shake out the excess water, then put it over the foil. It's very easy.

I started with the inside part. Used a few layers. Wet your fingers and you'll be able to blend and adhere the cloths to each other.

You see why I put wax paper down. Do the whole top and all the sides. Then let it dry over night.

Once dry, you can take it right off the board. It keeps its' shape well. The foil stays in there.

I did another thick layer around the bottom edge. Make it good and thick so you will be able to bend it around the edge/bottom of the board, as shown a few pics down.

Finally, put a few more layers of foil over it. The cloth holds up very well in the oven. Adding more foil makes it all the better.

From making the bottom edge thicker, you should now be able to bend it around the edge of the board and onto the bottom of the board a little. Just enough for the heat shield to hold itself over the board. I put long m5 bolts through the board to act as stands. You'll be able to bend and shape the bottom edges of the molding around the bottom of the board.

So I pre-heated my oven to 355F. When it got to that temp, i put in the xbox (had it on a flat pan. the bolts held it up so the bottom of the board wasnt on the pan).
After I put the xbox in the oven, I immediatly raised the temp to 450F. I used my meter's thermocouple to read the appx temp inside the oven, just as extra confirmation that the oven is accurate.
It took my oven about 8 minutes to go from 355F to 450F. Once at 450F, I let it be for 4:30 minutes. During this time, my meter read the temps staying between 240C and 250C the whole time. After the 4:30, I turned off the oven and opened the door just a crack. I left everything for a few hours.

A few hours later: Took the molding off and everything is perfect.

The best part is knowing I can use this molding over and over again.
I've done this a few more times since first first writing this tut.
- The longest I've ever had a board in the oven was 15 minutes. - -- The board was fine, but I would NOT suggest you leave yours in any longer. Hopefully your oven goes from 355F to 450F faster than mine. Do a test run first. (you don't need anything in the oven for a test run. Just figure out how long it takes to get from 355F to 450F, then add 4:30 minutes. Hopefully it works out to around 10, even 12 minutes will be ok).
- The time and temps are definetly good. I recently fixed a 0013 error. I played BulletStorm from beginning to end with out any errors or video issues.

I hope this helps. This is the easiest and cheapest heat shield I've ever made. I've used it 4 times now and it hasn't let me down.

Src: RobbieRob

Thx!