On Saturday 29 May 2004 08:53 pm, crankorgan wrote:
> Roy,
> The ones we had made by Pace used a thin wall stainless steel tip.
> The tip got hot. These days I use a heat gun (PaintStripper B&D) to
> remove parts from proto boards so I can reuse them.
I've seen those heat guns, never thought about using one to get parts off a
board, and didn't know that they reached solder-melting temperature. It
shouldn't be a surprise, though, since they'll make paint bubble up pretty
good...
> To replace a part I cut the pins of the part next to the body of the device.
> I then heat and remove one pin at a time.
I've seen that advice in repair-oriented material before. I guess it depends
on what you want to unsolder for. Much of mine has been to salvage parts,
but I guess I have enough parts these days that it'll take a ∗LONG∗ time
before I'll ever use 'em all up.
> I sometimes use a solder sucker to open the holes after that or a toothpick
> with flux on it.
I've done that, used the one-shot desoldering tools, and also braid,
depending on what I'm working on. Different styles of boards tend to have
different results, and sometimes one will work better than another.