Standard Analog Compact AirBath
Over 10 CFM (285 Liters/Minute) Air Volume.
Our Analog ZT-1-CLS-MIL AirBath™ Delivers More Than Double in Preheat Power
Than Others in Its Class.

Deluxe Digital Compact AirBath
Over 15 CFM (430 Liters/Minute) Air Volume.
 Our Digital ZT-1-CLS-DPU AirBath™ Delivers As Much As Triple in Preheat Power Than Others in Its Class.
Big, Easy to Read LED Digital Display

Real Preheat Power in Compact Form: We engineered our patented preheating technology into two powerful, yet compact systems within our trademark, famous pyramidal design. Packing double and triple preheating air volume capacity of other small profile preheaters, the ZT-1-CLS AirBaths™ have 1-year limited factory warranty.

Digital & Analog!  ZT-1-CLS AirBaths™ are available in two models. And don't underestimate the PCB preheat power of the famous AirBaths™.

1.) ZT-1-CLS-DPU Deluxe Digital AirBath™ packs 15CFM (430-liters/min.) forced-convection preheat power...over 3 times more preheat/post-cool™ power of others in its size and class! And our big LED digital display blows away others with  inferior, so hard-to-read awful LED displays.

2.) And our ZT-1-CLS-MIL Analog AirBath™ which, while not quite as powerful as the Deluxe Model, still packs over 10 CFM (285 liters/minute) of forced convection preheat and post-cooling™ -- twice the output of other compact preheaters.

Key to PCB Preheating:  Successful PCB preheat is made, not with higher temps of low-volume preheated air, but lower temps with effective volumes of preheated air. Beware of imitative pre-heaters with less than 10CFM (285 liters/minute) that crudely attempt to compensate for their lack of air volume with higher temp settings! Keep in mind that the critical glass transition of a FR-4 PCB is only 170°C (338°F)! You don't want higher preheat temps, you want a higher volume of safe preheated (100°C to 170°C) air for your PCB's. (See more below.)

Your Lead-Free Solution: Working with the lead-free, RoHS compliant solder alloys that have higher melting points makes preheat more essential to 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! 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.

Why Preheat? The benefits of preheating are multiple and compounding. Here are the primary reasons:

1.) Preheating or "soaking" a PCB assy. prior to solder reflow helps activate flux, removing oxides and surface films from leads and pads, thereby enhancing the wetting process and solder joint quality.  2.) PCB preheating allows lower soldering reflow temperatures.  3.) Preheat reduces the final "dwell time" during the final reflow stage.  4.) Preheat 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.) Preheat provides a thermal boost when working with RoHS lead-free solders without damaging the work!

Loaded With Premium Features: The ZT-1 AirBaths™ get 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 Ramp: Zephyrtronics AirBaths™ have the industry standard, built-in temperature ramp of 2° to 4°C per second preventing thermal shock to sensitive chips, ceramic caps, glass diodes and when micro-soldering. Our ramping was essential to Motorola® and Boeing® for space applications. Yes, Zephyrtronics pioneered it.

PostCooling™ your PCB at the bench after solder reflow was first introduced to the market by Zephyrtronics nearly 20 years ago. Today anyone knowledgeable with processing BGA's at the bench knows how critical post cooling is to the process so as to form strong solder columns between the pad and the chip so they will not "open" up later. This is very important. Quick cooling produce far stronger, more resilient solder joints even with hand soldering. It's no wonder that all high-volume PCB conveyor ovens have a final "cool down".

Thru-Hole, SMT & BGA Preheating Tasks: The ZT-1 AirBaths™ are ideal for all PCB challenges from low-volume production runs, prototyping during design or rework with SMD packages such as BGA, CSP, QFP, QFN, TSOP, PLCC, SOIC, SOL, LCC, Flip Chip and Glob Top components. Still, the AirBath  is not limited to only SMD devices: Don't overlook the AirBath  preheating boost brings for your tough through-hole (PTH) soldering and de-soldering tasks! It easily handles all substrates including FR-4, polyimide, composites, flex circuits and ceramic boards.

Compact AirBath™ Models. Both models have variable temperature control selection starting at ambient (room temp) and feature Zephyrtronics famous AirCones™.

A Compact Analog Model has a temp selection dial on the front panel with 10 CFM Air Volume. Almost double of those in its size.

A Deluxe Compact Digital Model features a digital set/read lighted display that permits you single digit (degree) incremental temperature selection in the "set" mode.

Remember: The greater the volume of preheated air immediately translates into into lower, safer PCB preheating temperatures.

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

Remove Chip Quickly at Less Than 150°C with  AirBath & LOWMELT® "Never Lift A Pad"

100% Non Contact , SMT Hot Air Soldering &  Micro-Soldering: AirBath &  Hot AirPencil. For Highest Quality!

Easy Thru-Hole  Desoldering At Lower Temps With AirBath Preheat Heavy Ground Planes? No Problem!

All  AirBaths™ Sit Below the ZT-7-MIL BGA, SMD &  Thru-Hole Hot Air Station.

 Ideal For Heat Shrink Tubing Applications.
Far Superior To Uncontrolled Heat Guns!

  Comparing the Four Methods of Preheating

Preheating PCB assemblies falls into four categories: 1.) hot plates, 2.) ovens, 3.)  IR systems, and 4.) forced convection (warm air) under a PCB: The short video at the right breaks down these four methods with comparative demonstrations. While any PCB preheat prior to soldering is better than none, an objective analysis of the various methods of preheating reveals that all preheating methods are not equally effective or beneficial:

1.) Ovens: Using ovens to preheat before rework and soldering 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 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 you perform selective soldering or desoldering tasks on one side of the board. Of course, one can preheat with an oven, and then rush the PCB back to your bench, but it's hardly practical solution.

Hundreds of Zephyrtronics AirBaths™ Utilized to Build the International Space Station (ISS)

39-Page Rework Guide
by NASA with Zephyrtronics AirBaths™

Zephyrtronics AirBaths™ Used on the Mars Rover & Phoenix Programs.
Photo Credit: NASA

2.) IR: There are many drawbacks with infrared and why it really never completely caught on.  Some of the drawbacks (enumerated in articles and white papers) are the difficulty in ramping temps, darker surfaces heating more than lighter ones ('albedo' effect), shadowing caused by high profile devices on PCB's. Some chips require shielding (aluminum foil!) with IR. If an IR preheater is very large, working on small PCB's can be very uncomfortable for techs (a common complaint).

Another quality disadvantage of IR preheaters is they are not "temperature controlled" without taping an external thermocouple onto each PCB before working on it...a hassle/headache for techs and filled with quality pitfalls, and inconsistent results. There are more drawbacks, but these are some of the worst.

NASA & JPL: 'IR Preheaters Are Risky': Addressing the preheating process for heat sensitive chips in a 49-page published report, two JPL engineers, Dr. Rajenshuni Ramesham and Dr. R. David Gerke, wrote "Hot plates and infrared preheaters are not recommended for this type of rework. The reason that they should not be used is that the thermal reaction times, energy transfer rates and efficiency are never consistent. However, they can be used for large metal and ground-plane boards in limited applications, e.g., where the size of the board matches that of the preheater in area."

Citing the late William Scheu, the authors point to the superiority of bottom-side preheating with forced convection systems. The JPL/NASA Survey spotlighted still more of the deficiencies of IR preheating devices: "They have little capacity to ramp and soak to perform properly engineered repair scenarios or to support the creation and application of complicated thermal profiles. They also are limited in their ability to preheat beyond the physical dimensions of the heating surface. Hot-air preheating can be ramped, soaked and, on some systems, synchronized with the reflow process, permitting duplication of the actual profile used in manufacturing the assemblies. BGAs and photoelectrical parts are sensitive to higher temperatures and any attempt to preheat with marginally controllable sources is risky."-- NASA & JPL: Survey of Rework Methods & Equipment for Various Packaging Technologies" Aug.'05

  Post-Cooling™ Feature Built Into The AirBaths™ 

Another AirBath™ advantage is with flipping a switch the unit transforms into a post-cooler™ cooling down your PCB, chips and solder joints. PostCooling™ is essential to soldering BGA's because hot air nozzles must not be lifted from above a BGA until all the balled joints have cooled so as not to cause unwanted bridging. Important: hot plates, static ovens and IR plates do not provide the critical post-cooling™ feature standard on every Zephyrtronics AirBath™.

Our AirBaths™ cool BGA's in 8 seconds permitting the hot air nozzle to be lifted without fear of bridging. Without post-cooling™ a tech must wait for the ball/pad interface to solidify completely before lifting the nozzle to inspect the reflow.

The PostCooling™ feature remedies this problem allowing rapid lifting of a hot air nozzle from the BGA after soldering.  Again, our engineers introduced the concept of post-cooling™ to the benchtop clear back in 1994.

Zephyrtronics Led the World to Preheat: Judged "Best New Product of the Year" and winner of the prestigious "Vision Award" at the Surface Mount International Expo in Silicon Valley for its milestone contribution to the global production of printed circuit boards, Zephyrtronics AirBath™ was recognized and spotlighted by SMT Magazine in 1997 as a "safer and simpler method for removing and repairing sensitive devices." We are still the original pioneers and we understand the thermodynamics of PCB preheating better than anyone else. 

Our AirBaths™ are the intelligent solution to prevent thermal degradation, thermal  shock, lifting pads & traces, substrate delamination, measling and warping of your boards.

It is no wonder for over fifteen years 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.

TECHNICAL DATA & SPECS

FEATURES & BENEFITS