MOTM

In a message dated 4/27/2003 12:56:01 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
media.nai@... writes:

> >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.
> 
> That sounds like good advice.
> 
> At 3:36 PM -0400 4/27/03, The Old Crow wrote:
> >
> >
> >  This thing:
> >
> >http://www.howardelectronics.com/den-on/sc7000.html
> >
> >  Don't let the price scare you (too much).  I've had one for 18 months
> >now, and I cannot imagine doing solder re-work without it.
> 
> Thanks :)  That looks great, but I think it's way over my DIY budget.
> 


I know what you mean about that price. Even as much as I screw up, I can't 
justify a $400 eraser. 

Quite a bit less professional but MUCH more useful that the little bulbs: 
Larry and I have long been fans of the Radio Shack desoldering iron (it looks 
like an iron with a vacuum bulb in a sidecar kind of arrangement) -- I think 
it costs $10. I recently had to remove a capacitor from a double sided 
through plated PCB much like a MOTM (I think it was an Oakley). I think the 
iron touched each pad for 2-3 seconds before the solder was molten, and then 
just release the bulb -- then the component came out very easily.

The trick is (to put the component in right the first time! -- but failing 
that) to let the desoldering iron heat up before you try to use it -- I let 
it heat about five minutes. I have had a few problems with MOTM type PCBs 
(had to make a few attempts to get the component out), but I've never damaged 
a board.

JB