Odp: [sdiy] solder wick?

[Roman Sowa]

If I may rephrase your question: it's pointless to have desoldering
station unless you are willing to get a good one. I have a cheap one
so I know, trust me. Those things can be done good or bad.
What's bad in mine - manufacturing quality is poor, it stucks
easily and cleaning is damn hard, so to prevent the worst I sometimes
reverse air direction and spill the solder out. Available tips are
OK for thru-hole PCB, but for high density boards it's no go.
I've seen those DENON suckers in action at electronic tradeshow,
when it desoldered a SMD chip with no extra tools. I'm still ipressed.

I also used spring powered plunger for years, but even with this
cheap desolderer I have, I never use it no more. So if you're not
willing to spend a bucket of money on desolderer, don't even try
to use it when you have a chance while visiting someone who has it
- you'll love it. And then you hate it after first cleaning...

For big boards, like old mobos, I use kitchen stove. Just heat up the
board until you hear something like frying meat, and then smash
it over the sink. Solder goes into sink, and components pop up
all over the place. I desolder Socket7 in a minute or so this way.
Of course you have to collect all solder from the sink, coz it's
bad for fish and stuff. And don't do that when your wife/girlfrind/mother
is at home.

Roman

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Stephen Begin <trypannon at hotmail.com>
To: synth <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Sent: Friday, February 28, 2003 9:32 PM
Subject: [sdiy] solder wick?


> I've got a couple questions about desoldering
> Does anybody use the "no-clean" type of solder wick?
> What do you use to clean up the mess from normal solder wick?
> Is a cheap desoldering station worth having, or is it pointless unless you
> are willing to get a good one?
> 
> Basically I'd like to hear anything people have learned about desoldering
> from experience.