Relife RL-601T 16 Series Middle Layer Tin Planting Platform V2.1 – Fixture with Steel Stencil

Middle-layer reballing is one of those jobs where a shaky fixture ruins the board before you even get the hot air gun out. The RL-601T V2.1 solves the two things that go wrong most often: boards shifting mid-reflow and tin balls collapsing into uneven blobs. RELIFE machines this stencil from steel rather than the softer alloys some budget kits use, and the hole spacing is cut to match the actual middle-frame contact pattern on each supported board, not a generic universal grid stretched to fit.

You place the board on the base, drop the matching stencil over the middle-layer pads, and the three embedded high-temperature magnets pull the stencil down tight against the board. That clamping force is what stops the classic problem of a stencil lifting a fraction of a millimeter during reflow and smearing solder across two pads instead of filling one. The magnets hold their strength under repeated heat cycles, so the fixture doesn't lose grip after a few weeks of daily use on the bench.

The stencil geometry itself does most of the real work. Each hole is round and square-edged with tight tolerances, which keeps the solder ball from spreading sideways as it melts. On cheaper mesh stencils you'll see tin balls that come out flat or oval because the mesh flexes under heat — this design resists that, and the anti-drum construction keeps every ball rounded and consistent across the whole board. That consistency matters more than it sounds: uneven tin balls on a middle-layer board are a common reason boards fail continuity testing after reassembly, sending a dead phone back to the bench a second time.

Coverage runs from the iPhone X generation through the 16 series, spanning the X, XS, XS Max, 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max, 12, 12 Mini, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max, 13, 13 Mini, 13 Pro, 13 Pro Max, 14, 14 Plus, 14 Pro, 14 Pro Max, 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, and 16 Pro Max middle-layer boards. Because the base is built as an expandable platform rather than a fixed one-piece tool, RELIFE ships new stencils as new iPhone board layouts appear, and they clip onto the same magnetic base you already own. That's the real value for a repair shop — you're not rebuying a full fixture every release cycle, just the stencil module for whatever generation you're working on that day.

In a typical repair workflow, this platform comes into play after you've already separated the middle frame from a board with liquid damage, a failed charging port, or a board-to-board connector issue, and you need to restore the tin balls before reassembly. It sits between the desoldering stage and the reflow stage: board goes on the base, stencil goes on the board, solder paste or solder wire gets applied through the mesh, hot air brings it up to reflow temperature, and the stencil lifts off clean once the balls have set. Technicians doing frequent iPhone board-level work — dead phone repairs, hardware fault diagnosis after drop damage, or middle-frame connector replacement — end up using this stage of the workflow constantly, which is why a fixture that holds position reliably saves real time over a session.

Build quality on the base itself is straightforward: a flat metal platform sized to sit steady under a hot air nozzle without shifting, with the magnets recessed so they don't interfere with the stencil's contact against the board. It pairs naturally with the rest of a reballing station — hot air gun, flux, solder paste, and a set of tweezers or a reballing stencil holder — and slots into the same bench setup most technicians already run for BGA and CPU-level rework.