[sdiy] Desolder Station?

[epeasant at telusplanet.net]

>Even the people who used the thing the most could never keep them working well.
 I would imagine if you treated the thing like a fire arm and cleaned it every
time you were done with it, it might work for a long time...but, they were generally
only
>serviced when the didn't work.  So, I am afraid I really have no good answer
to your question, since I have never seen one I would consider dependable.
>

The more complex the system that you use, the more maintenance is required.
With solder wick, you get to just throw it away after you use it. Rubber soldering
bulbs I consider to be completely useless, but even they need to be emptied
regularly. With solder suckers, every once in awhile you have to pop the tip
off and clean out the chamber, including scraping off solder that has adhered
to the bottom of the piston. Failing to do so will result in poor vacuum performance.
Soldering stations just need a bit higher lever of maintenance. The tips must
be cleared, the internal chamber emptied, steel wool filters changed, all on
a regular basis. Failure to do so results in an ever-worsening clog-up inside
the unit which slowly turns into a harder tin alloy as most of the lead is slowly
sucked out. Then you have a HUGE clean-up job to restore good operation. Treating
the cleaning of a desoldering station casually is a sure path to failure, and
as the insides clog up performance drops, so it gets a reputation for not working
effectively.

I recently purchased an Ungar soldering/desoldering station at a flea market
for $40 CDN ($27 US). The soldering side had NEVER been used, but the desoldering
iron was *completely* jammed inside from lack of proper cleaning, so it did
not work at all. After half an hour of restoration, it now works effectively
and flawlessly and will continue to so long as I maintain it. This is a $750+
unit new, but the previous owner didn't know a thing about using it.

I have desoldered many tens of thousands of electronic components over the years,
and I have found that a properly functioning desoldering station is so far superior
to anything else as to be almost laughable. Particularly with multi-layer boards
and tight lead/hole tolerances, you can usually remove multi-lead components
with zero damage to the board or the part, an almost impossible feat with a
sucker or wick. Once you get in the habit of regular cleaning, BEFORE the problems
start, you will never go back!

Take care,
Doug

______________________
The Electronic Peasant

www.electronicpeasant.com