Tools for desoldering?

Where's it going wrong ? I can manage with a pump and wick just fine but technique is everything. The quality of the wick varies hugely too ! As do pumps in fact, come to think of it.

Give us some more details.

Graham

I prefer wick.

Sometimes it helps to apply fresh solder first, to get things flowing, and then apply the wick.

I presume you are placing the wick between the soldering iron and the joint?

Are you using "no-clean" wick? I prefer the full-fat variety. You can often tell from the colour of the reel. No-clean is usually green. The red reels have more flux.

Are you desoldering SMD or through-hole?

Hi, Hamad. Possibly your desoldering pump is worn out, broken, or hasn't been cleaned properly.

I'm assuming you've got something like this:

If you're doing through hole work, they're invaluable because they're much quicker (and a lot less expensive) than solder wick. I just grab the solder with the pump, one click, and I'm done. Since they're faster than wick, there's less chance of cooking the part if you might want to reuse it. For SMT parts, though, they're generally not too useful, because they'll just suck up the part along with the solder.

You don't always get what you pay for, but you'll always pay for what you get with these. Better quality manual desoldering pumps have better rings and seals and higher quality teflon nozzles which won't melt or deform under heat. Try an aggressive cleaning of the pump, paying close attention to the seals and rings. Also, replace the tip if it's deformed and a replacement tip is available. You can't get good suction if you're not on the solder joint. If that doesn't work, then replace the thing.

Although they're very useful for fine work, the expensive setups are probably overkill for most basic work. Just try getting a good basic tool, and go with that.

Good luck Chris

That often helps.

Me too. It's all about introducing some more flux into the area.

That's manufacturer dependent. The best wick I've ever used btw is 'Soder Wick' (tm).

Wick and pumps have slightly different applicability too.

Graham

You can get service parts for them.

The seals and nozzles wear out quite quickly and *have* to be replaced periodically.

Never *ever* clean the solder slag off the 'prong' of a pump with a pair of serrated pliers btw. It'll totally wreck it.

Graham

This is way over $100, but for removing SMD parts I really like the way the Metcal Talon works. Like others said, sometimes you have to add solder to get good heat connectivity, but at least with the Talon you just grab the part and remove it. I've used it for some through-hole parts too, if the leads are arranged such that the tips can melt them all at once.

With a regular iron, one trick that sometimes works is to add more solder such that all the pins bridge. Then you can sometimes melt them all at once and lift that side of the part up.

One thing that I find helps a lot if I don't have to recover the parts intact, is to just just cut the leads of the through hole components in need to replace so you only have to work with one pin at a time. I then heat the remaining leads with my soldering iron and remove them with needle nose pliers. The last step is to mount the board in a vise, heat one side with the soldering iron and suck the solder out the other side. I find this method gives you nice clean holes and minimizes board damage. One thing that you want to be careful of when using a hand held solder pump is to hold the tip steady when you trip the pump. If you allow the tip to slide across the boare, you risk damaging the solder pad on the board, particulary if you have to apply a lot of heat to get the solder to melt on both sided of a multi-layer board.

If this is something you'll be doing a lot, then you ought to consider buying a temperature controlled desoldering station. I personally prefer Hakko's stations, but there are others. Unfortunately, one of those is quite a bit more than your $100 budget even if you are patient and buy it off eBay. If you go this way, make sure you get one with a built-in vacuum pump unless you have shop air available.

Hakko does have a hand-held desoldering tool that heats and generates it's own vacuum. I've seen it offered by eBay sellers for $165 or so. I haven't used one so I can't comment on how easy they are to use but you might ask for input from others.

Good luck.

For completeness (and more divergent from the OP's question), sometimes you may need to do the opposite of the above, and recover parts from a board that is to be scrapped. Many years ago I hit upon (literally!) a quick-and-dirty approach that needs no special tools... just a work surface you don't care too much about. You heat up each solder pad, then *WHACK* the board sharply against the workbench, solder pad down. Inertia removes the solder as a nice splash spot on your bench, but it doesn't actually hurt anything and can usually be peeled right off. (Of course, you can always use a protective layer of scrap wood or something.) Do this for each pin, then wiggle it a little with the needle nose to make sure it's free.

I rescued lots of "too good to toss" stuff from the scrap bin of my employer back in the '70s. Ahh, the good old days!

Best regards,

Bob Masta dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom D A Q A R T A Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis

You can also heat bigger section of the board over a gas range, or by waving a blow torch or paint stripper over the board, then whack it component side down. With a bit of luck the entire component will come out cleanly. I've done this once to remove a 40 pin connector from a scrap board.

That kind of impact isn't good for some parts, like crystals.

How's ten bucks?

The tips are replaceable and cheap, but you do have to clean it out pretty often.

Have Fun! Rich

Of all the many methods I have tried this does the most work the best and easiest. YMMV.

For about three decades now, I've been saying, "gotta get me a little vacuum pump and trigger switch..." The ones with the electric pump are much nicer, but cost 10-20 times as much. ;-)

Cheers! Rich

I've got a pile of those new in the package. I seems over time, every time went to Radio Shaft, I could never remember if i had a spare unit so i would some times buy one those and maybe one 15 and 30 iron.. One day i decided to clean up, after throwing away a lot of junk. I now have aprox 8 desolder units like that from radio shaft and about 12 or various irons all new in packages. I stopped buying those things when i got my high end solder/desoldering station. I save those for portable use now :)

The OK Tools Soldapult is definitely the best tool for removing solder from most components but often it is necessary to make several attempts along with added flux and/or solder, especially for IC's or multi-pinned items.

Many pcb designers err towards the smallest through-holes necessary for component mounting, even when it comes to low density designs. They seem to completely ignore (perhaps deliberately in some cases) the problems they create for board level repairs by not leaving sufficient clearance around the component lead through-hole. When it comes to desoldering, the closer the component lead is to the plated through-hole, the more difficut it is to remove all solder. In some cases I have been defeated even when using a Hakko 474 vacuum desoldering tool.

Because you can't move the lead sufficiently far enough from the side of the hole some minute solder wicking remains. On IC's with many pins you only need this to happen on several pins to make it very difficult to remove the component without damaging the through-holes. (PCB designers please note)

I am currently in the process of salvaging components from an 80's vintage Sagem teleprinter and I truly thank the board designers for making the through holes extremely generous. Every component has been easy to remove without any damage. The only problem is that the leads have been bent almost flat on the solder side but judicious side pressure with the desoldering tip usually gets them upright again. Unfortunately this isn't so easy with a standard soldering iron and manual solder sucker (OK Soldapult).

Well, clearly the vacuum station is the best bet - I've found that giving the pin a little wiggle lets all of the solder loose, and if you continue to wiggle it as it cools, the chip will just fall out. (the inrush of room air cools the joint).

But, when you don't have a vacuum station, I've found that the Solder Sucker trick works _most_ of the time; sometimes I've had to follow up with wick, sometimes from both sides of the board.

With SMT, of course, this is all moot. :-)

Cheers! Rich

That is the correct technique but it isn't that simple if there is no room in the hole to wriggle the lead. Round pins are especially problematic in too-small holes. Also, even with ALL solder removed from around IC pins you will inevitably find that minute traces will remain on the top side of the board at the pin shoulders where no air flow can penetrate. Providing that the pcb is made by a reputable maker and through-hole plating is reliable, gentle upward leverage at each corner will break these minute bonds without doing any damage. I have found some cheap boards where part of the through-hole will come out still stuck to the pin. This problem is exacerbated when trying to remove turned-pin IC sockets (not done very often) because these have shoulders which remain in contact with the top plating a full 360 degrees, whereas IC pin shoulders only make contact at two points.

...

Yabbut, the reason to use sockets is so you don't _have_ to unsolder anything! :-)

Cheers! Rich

I heat the pin with the end of a soldering iron tip, and as soon as it melts enough to break the bond I let go. It works almost every time. If you apply the heat too long, it will reflow and bond the pin back to the PTH.