Lifting traces with a Hakko

Great advice mentioned in this thread, most important words spoken though, "test on a junk board". Practice and learn your technique on a bad board, before attempting work on something you are trying to repair. Use that to learn the limits of your tool, and how to properly desolder trouble spots. Any solder I remove, I always add fresh solder to it first, makes it much easier to remove.

For the points where the leg is bent over to the side, I put my tip right next to the side of the leg, let the heat liquefy all of the solder, then suck it up. You'll see when the solder completely melts, that is your moment to remove it. If needed, add just a touch of solder, and make a second attempt. Fresh solder, clean tips, and good suction. If I have a leg still giving me trouble, I use a small set of needle nose pliers while applying heat with my soldering iron. All of these attempts should be done within seconds, anything beyond that, give the board/traces/ect time to cool down, so that you are not causing more damage.

Solder is realatively cheap, and junk boards are your friend. I buy a pound of Kester 63/37 0.040" solder at a time, and it lasts for quite a while. Make it easier, and get the spool holder for it as well.

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/KESTER-SOLDER-24-6337-0039-/21-1832

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/PRO'SKIT-8PK-033ST-/21-6800
 
Thanks.

Unless something changes dramatically, I'd literally be dead of old age before I'd use up a pound of solder. :)
 
OK, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to do that or not. I've read that is a bad thing to do and it will cause damage and yet things sometimes don't seem to come out unless I do, even after I've added a little fresh solder.

But this is mostly an issue when the legs/pins are bent at an angle and contacting the side of the hole.


I was taught how to solder/desolder by a Japanese dude I worked with 30+ years ago. This guy was amazing at board work and really took me under his wing.

At the time all we had were manual vacuum tools so a little nudge with small pliers was always the thing we did after a desolder.
 
i would not hesitate to use my 808 to replace a Z80, nor would i want to do the job without it. replaced easily dozens of chips with it. only way to fly in my opinion.
 
I use Pace gear when desoldering but the hints, tips, and tricks will be the same.

You use the tip of the desoldering iron to melt the solder. If you have to push hard to get it to melt then you need to clean, recondition (tip cleaner paste from Radio Shack) or replace the tip.

When the solder melts you wait a second or two more then gently wiggle the iron as you desolder the joint. This gets the solder out from around the pin and makes for a cleaner removal. DO NOT push on the pad when you do this or you'll scrub/lift the pad off the board.

If it's a heavy ground trace you'll need more heat. If it's on top of the board or on an inner layer you may need to put the iron on the joint on the top of the board to get enough heat to cleanly desolder the joint. This is common on the 470, 220, and 100uf caps that filter the power in the audio cap section of Neo Geo boards.
 
I use Pace gear when desoldering but the hints, tips, and tricks will be the same.

You use the tip of the desoldering iron to melt the solder. If you have to push hard to get it to melt then you need to clean, recondition (tip cleaner paste from Radio Shack) or replace the tip.

When the solder melts you wait a second or two more then gently wiggle the iron as you desolder the joint. This gets the solder out from around the pin and makes for a cleaner removal. DO NOT push on the pad when you do this or you'll scrub/lift the pad off the board.

If it's a heavy ground trace you'll need more heat. If it's on top of the board or on an inner layer you may need to put the iron on the joint on the top of the board to get enough heat to cleanly desolder the joint. This is common on the 470, 220, and 100uf caps that filter the power in the audio cap section of Neo Geo boards.



Exactly as I would have said. Excellent advice.

The only comment I'd add to it is that when I really want to be careful, I'll 'hover' the desoldering gun over the pad, and move it circularly as I vacuum the solder, trying not to actually make contact with the board itself at all, but just wiggle the pin as I desolder.

On some boards it isn't absolutely necessary to do it this way, and you can contact the board and still be fine, though on some boards you may leave little circular scratches in the PCB around each pin.

But I've found some Atari vector PCBs (typically Rev A Tempests and Gravitar/BW's) have EXTREMELY fragile traces and pads, like the copper just isn't that thick, and pulls very, very easily. Just touching the gun to the pad or trace practically destroys it. These boards are especially nasty to work with.

I don't know if they were just specific runs, or came from a different board house, as other samples of the same PCB seem to have very thick traces and solder mask, and you can contact the gun to the PCB no problem, and they won't scratch. It's kind of interesting to see the manufacturing variation, as Atari was probably just cranking these out as fast as they could BITD.
 
I've got the 968 and a Hakko Fr300. Don't even use the desolder ing iron on the 968 anymore. The Hakko is a much superior tool.

Thanks for the info... I might have to try the Hakko. I have one the soldering irons.

Kirk S.
 
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