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Subject: Desoldering -- was Re: [motm] Re: 490 resonance

From: Tentochi <tentochi2003@...>
Date: 2003-04-30

I agree 100% with Moe. Minimize your dwell time at all costs! This is what
gets the pads lifting off of the PCB. When doing adjacent holes, allow time
for the first repair to totally cool down before moving to the next hole.

Although I usually don't have to use them, I have seen a couple of techniques
used with good success.

Once everything is trimmed off nicely. Heat up the lead that is remaining in
the hole. When the solder has melted, thwack the PCB against a piece of wood
perdendicular to the lead and the lead will come flying out. Take the
appropriate precautions.

The second method is to leave a little of the lead sticking out of the hole.
Place the tip of your soldering iron on one side of the lead. When the solder
has melted, use a knife (X-actos are excellent for this to) and lift the lead
out. The trick hear is to minimize the amount of thermal transfer between the
lead and the knife blade.

When do this, make sure there isn't a lot of air movement arount the solder.
This means turn off fans and block any draft.

Ideally you want to get the lead out on the first try. I said ideally. But
doing it right the first time, means that there is a lot bigger chance the pad
will stay attached to the board.

Happy (De-)Soldering!
Shemp

> > While I'm on the subject of swapping resistors. Does anyone know a
> > good way to unsolder MOTM PCB's?? They seem to delaminate very
> > easily.
>
> The first thing you should ALWAYS do is to cut the component out.
> Clip all the legs with a sharp pair of dykes. It's not worth saving
> that component worth a few cents (worst case a few dollars) to ruin
> your board. Then it becomes much simpler to work on one pad at a
> time. I like to heat from one side and use a vacuum sucker from the
> other. Properly timed, you can heat the pad just until the solder
> liquifies again, then suck the leg out the other side.


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