[sdiy] solder wick?

[Magnus Danielson]

From: "Rude 66" <r.lekx at chello.nl>
Subject: Re: [sdiy] solder wick?
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 10:23:53 +0100

Hi Rude,

> i have this problem with the board for my 76477 synth. there's a thick
> ground trace, almost looks like old solder wick. soldered onto the board.
> nothing melts this stuff, and no other solder holds on to it. i've tried
> everything. i can't really use anything too major because there's parts
> mounted right next to it.

First of all, one of the tricks I use is to solder on new solder, to break
through any old barrier since the top surface usually is a bad heat conductor.
After I've done that I let things cool off. If it's a larger thing I do it in
batches so that I don't overheat the board and components.

However, that may not help you, but there is another trick, which is VERY
usefull - preheating the whole PCB (or at least the hole neighboring area).
An hotairgun to heat it up to say 110-120 degrees Celsius can do marvels,
since now there is less temperature-difference between your soldering tip and
the surrounding board, so the heat-flux becomes much less and the excessive
heat stays better where you apply it.

If you don't heat up too quick and don't cool off to quick, this should be
a pretty safe method to work with. You don't have to go as high as I said, but
it should be safe most of the times, as long as you keep your pawns off the
heated board!

If you haven't tried it, you don't know what your missing!

Cheers,
Magnus