tips on soldersucking

[Tim Ressel]

Here's a tip (no pun intended) on desoldering with wick. An old geezer showed it
to me back when I was a youngster. You place the wick in the pad, place the iron
tip on the wick, then you wrap the wick around the iron tip. This causes much
more contact between the tip and the wick. I've used this trick for years; it
works well for me.

As for other 'tips' (sorry), cutting the leads helps, of course. I like to heat
the joint before desoldering, and I add a little fresh solder. This makes the
joint clear better. Avoid mechanical stresses on the pads. Pushing on pads while
desoldering tends to lift the already delicate pads. If the hole only partially
clears, don't keep on it; you'll just lift the pad. Instead re-fill the hole
with solder and try again. Electric desoldering is cool (I should be ashamed),
but some are cranky, like the Pace machines I'm used to. And, of course, the
most important desoldering tool of all: patience.


Tim Ressel--Compliance Engineer
Hewlett-Packard
Verifone Division
916-630-2541  
tim_r1 at verifone.com                     



-----Original Message-----
From: mark scetta [mailto:n0nspaz at loa.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2000 12:33 PM
To: synth-diy at node12b53.a2000.nl
Subject: tips on soldersucking


how do y'all do your desoldering, without damaging components? i have used 
1. a heavyduty springloaded type of solder sucker, which will sometimes rip 
the traces right off the board, 2. a cute squeezable rubber ball type of 
sucker, and 3. solderwick, which i cannot for the life of me make work. any 
tips?

mark