De-soldering tool

jay

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Needed one in a pinch. Went the cheap route and BY GOLLY it works!!

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062731

Not sure how long it will last, seems Rat Shack stuff goes to poop real quick. I like the concept though. I think I might get a few more uses out of it before it quits.

Anyone have similar de-soldering tools that are made better?
 
Needed one in a pinch. Went the cheap route and BY GOLLY it works!!

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062731

Not sure how long it will last, seems Rat Shack stuff goes to poop real quick. I like the concept though. I think I might get a few more uses out of it before it quits.

Anyone have similar de-soldering tools that are made better?

Mine's worked for quite a while, but BE CAREFUL! That thing doesn't have any temperature control - it just gets hotter and hotter. If you let it get too hot you may find yourself pulling traces accidentally. If you're going to be working for long periods of time, take breaks where you turn it off for a few minutes now and then.

Companies like Weller make soldering stations that have de-soldering heads as well. Usually the nicer ones have an air pump, so you don't have squeeze the bulb, etc. Unfortunately, they tend to be a bit pricey.

Here's one: http://www.amazon.com/Aoyue-Function-Soldering-Desoldering-Station/dp/B000KSRS9S which isn't too bad at $159.

I've got a soldering/hot air rework station from the same company, and it works just fine. I'm not a heavy user so I can't be sure if it would hold up if used all day every day, and the air pump on mine (for the hot air, and for the smoke absorber on the iron) is kinda loud.
 
I've used that for a while now, and finally just recently upgraded to the Hakko 808. I've used it for cap kits, and even board repairs on old Atari boards. As long as your careful it works fine. The tip on mine started to wear a little so if you can get an extra tip it would be good to keep a spare.

I used a wet paper towel folded into 1/4 size to blast the wet solder onto.
 
The Hakko 808 is great. I like it because it is easily portable...which is great for me since I don't have a permanent workbench set-up.
 
The Aoyue 474+ is an awesome desoldering station. Don't get it from Amazon though, get it from here:

http://www.sra-solder.com/Soldering_irons.htm

I just got one last month and so far it seems pretty good. I did some practice on a junk board that has through hole plating for the ICs and had some success, but still didn't get anything to drop out clean like I was hoping. Next time I practice I think I need to heat the leg up a bit longer so it flows on both sides.
 
I've been using that same Radioshack model for 3-4 years. I've probably done20-25 cap kits/2 arII's/1 arIII/and 2 Midway Power Board upgrades with it. I also removed the small sound chips on a Qbert soundboard with it. I have an extra tip that I still haven't needed to use.
 
I just got one last month and so far it seems pretty good. I did some practice on a junk board that has through hole plating for the ICs and had some success, but still didn't get anything to drop out clean like I was hoping. Next time I practice I think I need to heat the leg up a bit longer so it flows on both sides.

It definitely takes some practice. You've got to use quite a few senses to make sure it's going correctly. Sight, to see if it's melted. Hearing, to hear if it's actually sucking up anything. Smell, if it's burning, stop!

Sometimes the solder creeps up the legs of ICs so much that its nearly impossible to remove it all. In those cases, even if they don't "drop out" a jewelers screwdriver still easily pops them out.

The Radio Shack model is probably great for those uses - things with large legs (and few of them) that can take a tiny bit of abuse. I'm curious to see how they would do against smaller parts, like a 16 pin socket.
 
that's my desoldering tool now, the Radio Shack one. I picked it up on a whim a couple years ago, without having any particular knowledge of how to solder or having any major purpose for it.

it gets extremely hot, that's a mistake I made recently, I left it on for way too long. I didn't burn anything though. I'll keep that in mind from now on though (taking breaks)

couple things I've observed while using it, one particular job where I desoldered 2 IC sockets on Daytona USA (one to grab a donor socket off the game rom board, another to desolder the broken one) I used some leftover liquid flux from a ChipQuik kit I bought, and boy did that make desoldering those sockets 10x easier.

I've nuked ticket dispenser boards with it, they're just too tiny and fine, but I've done far worse damage with the combination of a Shack desoldering pump (the plastic blue one that you have to use a soldering iron to heat up the solder) and my 25 watt Weller iron than I ever did with the desoldering iron.

it becomes problematic on larger pinned items, because the pin blocks the air flow suckage, lol.

best way to get cleaner holes is to cup the tip around the pin, heat the solder, and wiggle the pin around in the hole... all in a split second of course. there's nothing more pleasing than to have a totally clean solder pad after using this tool!
 
Needed one in a pinch. Went the cheap route and BY GOLLY it works!!

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062731

Not sure how long it will last, seems Rat Shack stuff goes to poop real quick. I like the concept though. I think I might get a few more uses out of it before it quits.

Anyone have similar de-soldering tools that are made better?

I've had one of them for about 30 years now.
I haven't used it for desoldering for eons but I have found a good use for it. I keep it in a vice with tip pointing up. After it heats up, it makes a great tool for preheating 0.156" header pins so keying pins can be pulled out easily prior to connector installation. I put the pin to be pulled into the tip's hole, count to five and then remove the pin with a pair of needle nose pliers. Of course, this is only useful if you're doing a whole bunch at a time, though.

Ed
 
Needed one in a pinch. Went the cheap route and BY GOLLY it works!!

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062731

Not sure how long it will last, seems Rat Shack stuff goes to poop real quick. I like the concept though. I think I might get a few more uses out of it before it quits.

Anyone have similar de-soldering tools that are made better?


Oh yeah, that is the same I use! I have done some pretty delicate chip leg removals and chip socket installs with it. It keeps on rockin!

Never lifted a pad with it either.

I have noticed, you may have to buy a new tip, every now and then, depending on how many times you use it. Seems the tip hole, can get bigger the more it is used. Then again, I suppose that is why it and other solder tools, are made to be replaced.

You will have it for a long time, mine has not failed on me yet!
 
I used the radio shack hand pump one for while before I bought a used Pace setup for $50 which I used for the last 8 years. I recently upgraded to this....
http://www.pacedirect.com/product.php?id=96

Once you use a real desoldering station you will never go back to the old methods. Of course for the occasional user the radio shack one works just fine.
 
Once you use a real desoldering station you will never go back to the old methods. Of course for the occasional user the radio shack one works just fine.
Agreed. I don't do enough board work right now to spend a lot on a really nice setup, but I'm glad I at least have a solid desoldering station to work with. Once my skill with it is better, I have a Q*Bert pcb that likely needs new sockets.
 
Agreed. I don't do enough board work right now to spend a lot on a really nice setup, but I'm glad I at least have a solid desoldering station to work with. Once my skill with it is better, I have a Q*Bert pcb that likely needs new sockets.

Gottlieb pcbs are crappy, be careful with the heat so you dont lift traces.
QBert has pretty good sockets on them. Usually the only ones needing replacment are ones near the battery that get acid damaged.
 
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