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Best way to desolder?

What is the best way to desolder?

I have tried solder wicks, single bulb solder suckers, pen-like solder suckers, solder suckers with integrated soldering irons, and I've tried heating the item and shaking off the solder.

My current best method is heating the solder and blowing it off with a plastic soda straw. This sometimes leaves solder all over the place, and I have to use my fingernail or a chopstick to nudge the solder off places where it is shorting two connectors, or where it might fall and short something (which is everywhere).

I ask now because I have, that I found in the trash years ago, about

12 Western Electric circuit boards, obsolete now, each with up to 7 6-pole double throw relays. Needless to say, Western Electric used high quality relays, but when I try to desolder them from the boards, I lose a lot of the connections (there are 20 of them), and often I lose one of the two connections that goes to the relay coil, and I've ruined the relay.

I need a better way to get these relays disconnected from the circuit boards.

Help?

Meirman

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Back in the days when computer memory chips looked like sixteen-legged caterpillars and cost a fortune each, a friend of mine got his hands on a pile of circuit boards with dozens of the things soldered in.

His solution was to grab a board by the corner with pliers and hold it in the flame of his kitchen stove until the solder turned all shiny. A quick flip to bang the edge of the board, upside down, on the edge of the stove, deposited all the chips -- and lots of solder splats -- on the vinyl flooring.

Almost all the chips were good. He was happy; his wife was distinctly

*not*.

Isaac

Reply to
Isaac Wingfield

In sci.electronics.repair on Mon, 07 Mar 2005 20:36:45 -0800 Isaac Wingfield posted:

These are great boards btw. Very thick and they have half-inch high steel frames on three sides of them.

This sounds great. One more reason I wish I had a gas stove.

Thanks a lot, and thanks to all of you for a lot of good ideas.

Also someone emailed me to suggest a heat gun applied to the solder side, pointing up, and gravity or pliers or a pry to the other side.

Meirman

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meirman

Takes too long to heat up to solder-melting temperature. Long before that, the components will be cooked.

Isaac

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Isaac Wingfield

In sci.electronics.repair on Wed, 09 Mar 2005 20:08:15 -0800 Isaac Wingfield posted:

My original question was about relays. I don't think they cook easily, no? And they're the ones I've had the most trouble with, because if there are only one or two wires, I can do that pretty easily. (I don't remove IC's because I don't do volume work or work on the same device, so I can't reuse IC's.)

I actually have a heat gun, but I forgot that I got it broken. I replaced the fan and it worked. Tonight it worked for 2 or 3 minutes before the fan stopped. :)

I'll probably buy a new heat gun soon.

I have to try my soldapullt too. I replaced the O-ring today and it has far more suction. The old O-ring was a full half-millimeter or more smaller than the cylinder it was in. Maybe no suction at all. It had a lot of vaseline or something, that the Soldapullt maker recommends, and I believe him that it won't ruin things quickly. But after a while, vaseline will ruin latex. The thinner the quicker, which is why they recommend against it for condoms. O-rings aren't that thin, and they might not be latex, but in another thread somewhere, I saw vaseline recommended precisely because it made rubber soft. In some situation it made things fit or seal better. If I end up lubricating this o-ring, maybe I'll use KY jelly.

And the propane torch.

And the liquid flux with the solder-wick.

Four things to try!!

Thanks a lot you guys.

Meirman

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Don't use a water soluble lubricant - silicon lube is best for the O-ring. That's what Soldapullt includes with the rebuild kit.

Reply to
Travis Jordan

In sci.electronics.repair on Fri, 11 Mar 2005 12:28:15 GMT "Travis Jordan" posted:

in another thread on *another* subject.

OK. I have that too.

But I'm pretty sure also on the soldapullt webpage they recommended vaseline for some reason.

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Yeah, it does. I wonder why:

"1. Open the unit (it simply twists apart) and remove any solder that has collected inside.

  1. Use a cloth or paper towel to clean the o-ring, the plunger assembly and the chamber.
  2. Inspect the o-ring for wear -is the side worn flat where it touches the chamber wall ? If only slightly worn, cleaning and regreasing the unit will be sufficient. If not, replace the o-ring
  3. Smear a small amount of Vaseline around the o-ring (strictly-speaking, you shouldn't use a pertoleum product like Vaseline on a rubber o-ring but we've been doing this for years with excellent results).
  4. Reassemble the unit and test for proper suction. If the suction is not satisfactory, you can try a little more Vaseline on the o-ring. If that helps, then the o-ring should really be replaced.

For removing surface-mount devices, we suggest ChipQuik"

Meirman

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meirman

-------------------- In a pinch, I've used a B.B. gun to blast the solder off a mouse circuit board.

Hey, I had no tools along . .:-(

motsco.

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motsco_ _

Sorry, but this isn't a Edsyn (manufacturer of Soldapullt (tm)) web page. Use the instructions you see here at your own risk. Once again, I'd recommend silicon lube.

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Travis Jordan

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