Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: MOTM

Besides buying a desoldering pump like John suggested (I have one of the
smaller ones with an aluminum body--cost about $15 I think), another thing
I've found helpful is to use a pair of small wire cutters to cut all of the
legs of the IC near the IC itself. If you think the IC is dead there's no
need to salvage it, and after you cut the legs you can unsolder and remove
them one at a time rather than having to get all 14 or 16 free at once. My
method of attach is to first cut all of the legs, then remove them one at a
time by grabbing them from the top side with a pair of needle-nosed pliers
while melting the solder on the bottom side (obviously you need to hold the
PCB vertically in a clamp while doing this), then go back with a solder
sucker to remove any remaining solder.

The good news is that MOTM PCBs are very high quality so you're unlikely to
damage them while doing this, if you're reasonably careful with the whole
operation.

--Adam