Wouldn't it have been easier to just get them assembled? It costs less than $10 with JLCPCB and you avoid tons of hassle. I'm thinking of getting the assembled boards for this cube, if I can, as it looks amazing.
Eye balling the reflow profile with a thermocouple you threw in there is brilliant! I have a thermocouple readout on my DMM. I could go do this today with parts I have right now. That is wonderful, thankyou!
I do not, I've never even done reflow. I briefly considered making the toaster, because it's a very fun project, but in the end I think I'm just going to get my PCBs assembled.
I am huge fan of automated assembly as well, I think it unlocks designs that no one would even start to think about, like laying out thousands of discrete components on a single board. Esp if applying an aspect to a circuit, like "apply esd protection" or "apply bypass caps" or "apply pull low / high".