continuous action solder sucker

You want what's known as a desolder station. They've been somewhat overtaken by hot air devices so older ones can be picked up cheaply on Ebay. Basically, a soldering iron with a hole through the middle of the tip which is connected via a filter to a vacuum pump. At one time they were fiendishly expensive. There may well be cheaper ones new from the far east now.

Do you really need a "continuous" device? Its only actual advantage is that you simply hit the floor switch and "whoosh!" You don't have to reset the plunger.

As nice as they are (and I've used them), I've never felt any strong need to have one for occasional home use. Even if I could afford one, I wouldn't buy one.

I have three hand-held units (two plastic EDSYNs, and an off-brand metal unit). If a joint looks as if it's going to give me problems, I c*ck all of them before I start. Solderwick has its own advantages, as it makes good use of surface tension.

My current Pace desoldering station uses a vacuum pump no larger than the pressure pump used in a tyre inflator. My previous Weller DS900 had a similar sized pump. On both of these stations, the vacuum port is connected to the business end via about 2 feet of fairly soft and pliable heat-resistant (silicone ?) tubing, about the size of TV coax. The vacuum on both stations is as strong at the desoldering head as it is at the port, so I'm not sure where you are having trouble with the physics of vacuum engineering, with your attempts at replicating your work system. FWIW, there are plenty of desoldering and rework stations on the market both new from the Far East, and second hand on FleaBay. Most of the ones I've used work pretty well, and in a non-production environment where there's only you, I don't really see a need for continuous vacuum. Vacuum builds very quickly when you operate the pump switch on a desoldering station, and is maintained until you let go of the switch.

Arfa

My Weller's hose is surprisingly soft. Must be more flow than suction. It needs frequent cleaning.

greg

The Metcal de-soldering gun uses a 50 PSI air supply. There is a venturi to make a vacuum from the trigger controlled air.

G=B2

I appreciate the 5 responses I received and all your advice is well taken. I admit to being obsessed with this challenge. I'm retired from industrial electronics and now consider myself only a hobbyist so the commercial equivalents of what I'm trying to do are just not feasible.

I still don't understand why the small pumps used in commercial desoldering equipment far outperform the shop vac I had tried. The shop vac experiment was only an overkill step in an attempt to begin fine tuning the solder sucker idea.

Thanks again for your input, Rush

High volume is not necessarily high vacuum. You will have to measure the vacuum. My little 170 cfm radon fan will suck two inches of water.

greg

snipped-for-privacy@zekfrivolous.com (GregS) wrote in news:i0iabg$r25$ snipped-for-privacy@usenet01.srv.cis.pitt.edu:

you can buy a venturi vacuum generator from Harbor Freight at very low cost,they make one for evacuation auto air conditioning systems. It needs a compressed air line. it will work continuously,off a small compressor.

They also have 2.5 & 3.5 CFM electric vacuum pumps.