Reflow soldering - Part (4) First soldering test

Plot of actual temperature change

The board I used for the test, SMD 1206 resistor centre

I have been experimenting with the oven under the control of my programmable temperature controller, ( see 12 December ), and making minor changes to the software until I obtained the heating and cooling characteristic above. It closely resembles the ideal profile, ( see 8 October ).
Eager to try some soldering, I put several blobs of solder-paste and a surface-mount resistor on a scrap piece of copper clad circuit board material, placed it in the oven and started the process. After completion I inspected the board. The solder-paste had become metallic, the resistor was nicely soldered and the copper hadn't 'lifted'.
Without any stencil, I had applied far too much solder-paste.