Desoldering advice please: Removing DIP IC's without damage

[rodpp]

Just a tip on solder wick: the MG Chemicals wick (as shown in the photo above) is AWESOME. It uses much finer wires than any other wick I've tried, which turns out to create superior thermal transfer and capillary action. The fact that it's rather cheap on Amazon.com is just icing on the cake.

Yep, and with some added flux from the flux pen it works even better.



(Hey, it's not a "Dave" video or a Rossmann video, but it is what it is.)

Thanks for post this video, very good video quality and dessoldering technic.

I purchased recently a Weller rework station, used it only one time yet, but the thing is impressive. It seems that I always used the wrong tool for the job.

[wblock]

Yep, and with some added flux from the flux pen it works even better.

Actually, it does not look like the wire is as small or it absorbs solder as quick as the stuff I use.  That used to be Tech Spray 1803-5F, but then I found a deal on Philips wick at Jameco which is about the same.  Additional flux has not been necessary with either.  Since posting that thread, I've continued to use that Philips wick, and really have no complaints.  It might leave a trace more flux residue to clean up than the Tech Spray, or that could be my imagination.

These ultra-fine, wider wicks do not work as well on irons lacking a high heat capacity.  There is a .050-inch version of that stuff, which is still very cheap (but not as cheap as the 100-foot roll of .100) which could be better in that case.

A desoldering station would still be my choice for removing stick-through ICs without damage.  At least for my station and usage, It's a lot less likely to lift a pad.

[dom0]

Haven't used solder wick or a solder sucker on something through-hole since I got the DSX80. Nul complaints/issues.

[tooki]

Yep, and with some added flux from the flux pen it works even better.

Actually, it does not look like the wire is as small or it absorbs solder as quick as the stuff I use.

The one in the video doesn't look as fine as what I have from MG.

So I pulled out my 1:1 macro lens and took some pix of all the wicks I've got laying around (the width of the frame in real life is 23.6mm, and thus all images are to scale).

The MG .050" (#2) wick (which I only just got) is definitely not as tightly woven as the .075 (#3) and .100 (#4) which I've been using for longer. Nonetheless, all of these have the tightest weaves of any of the wicks. These are MG "Super Wick", cat #442/443/444. These work really well, and I've never felt the need to add flux.

Next is a #4 Chemtronics Soder-Wick 40-4-5. This is a lead-free version, and the flux in it stinks when heated. :/

Then there are (obscure?) SES brand #2 and #4 wick I got from the local mom-and-pop electronics shop.

And finally, a Swiss-made Spirig 3S-Wick #2 braid, which I hate because it's woven so loosely that it tends to fray easily.

Of all of these, I find the MG to work the best, the Spirig the worst, though none are bad. (Not like what I've heard about counterfeit Goot-Wick from fleabay.)

[tooki]

And here's some comparison pix.

[alsetalokin4017]

Here's a comparison that makes sense to me: 

Weller DSX80 Amazon price:  $249.61 plus shipping.

5 feet of MG #424LF  0.050 wick price:   about 5 dollars.

(And the wick takes up a lot less bench space !!)

[KL27x]

and all the solder wound up in the braid, easy to cut off and dispose of, without having to take something apart, clean it and reassemble it.

On a board that is clean of flux residue, you can desolder scores of chips like that without cleaning the sucker. Loads. You need to clean a solder sucker when the nozzle gets clogged by flux and solder and starts to grab/trap the steel clearing rod. Sans some extra flux on the joints, this takes a long time to happen.

And when it does, the good devices are very quick and easy to clean. Your sucker screws in/out and a spring covered in solder dust pops out. The Edsyn designs have a captive spring that does not get dirty because it pulls from behind the gasket. You open it with a half twist and tap it over the trashcan. The most time is spent to clean the end of the steel rod and/or the interior of the nozzle, which takes a minute.

Well, everybody's got an opinion, I guess. And while you were expressing yours, I made a video demonstration using the braid+flux

Yes, it's just my opinion. And watching your video reaffirms my opinion. I would use that technique in a pinch. But solder wick + thu hole go together about as well as peanut butter and caviar. A $15-20.00 Edsyn solder sucker is faster and easier. It gives less thermal stress to the part and the pcb. And it gives better results (cleaner holes and a part that often drops out under gravity).

Solder wick is better than a sucker for cleaning pads and pins. It doesn't touch a sucker on thru holes, if you use a real sucker. Your opinion might change if you retired your sucker to the trashbin where it belongs.

My dance card is full for the day, but I should like to post my own video when I get the chance. Maybe tomorrow.

and with some added flux from the flux pen it works even better.

The soldering techniques I use, I quite often use a large bevel tip and a "flux board," which are perfect for using and fluxing up a solderwick. I'm not an expert with solderwick. I don't use it very often. But I have recently been playing with it more often, having recently bought a roll of Chemwick after seeing it recommended on the forums a few times. I am reasonably confident I'm giving solderwick a fair shake. Moreso after watching your video.

[coppice]

The heated De-Solder Pump (Solder Sucker) looks like this:


At this point in time I don't really have a budget in mind, as I don't really know the costs of additional tools.

So I will just say as a starting point around the £100, but this is not a fixed price.

Thanks again for your time.

Best Regards.

The look like a slightly modified version of a Hakko tool I've had since the early 90s. I have used it to remove many small and large DIP packages, various large segmented LCDs, and other through hole devices with many leads. I don't remember ever damaging either a PCB pad or the lead of a device. Used with a suitable wiggling action, that is quick to master, its extremely effective, and pretty quick to clear all the holes.

[timofonic]

Quote from: alsetalokin4017 on Yesterday at 06:43:26 PM>Quote from: tooki on Yesterday at 02:47:13 PM

Just a tip on solder wick: the MG Chemicals wick (as shown in the photo above) is AWESOME. It uses much finer wires than any other wick I've tried, which turns out to create superior thermal transfer and capillary action. The fact that it's rather cheap on Amazon.com is just icing on the cake.

Yep, and with some added flux from the flux pen it works even better.



(Hey, it's not a "Dave" video or a Rossmann video, but it is what it is.)

Notice: I'm very probably the worst sold(i)er and the worst electronics student in the world.  I solder a zillion times worse than most of you, these days my hands are full of damage because of my horrible soldering technique and that's because my "amazing" psychomotor skills and other shit.

Aren't you applying too much heat at the same places by too much amount of time? I'm always scared of that, to the pount of touching pins and burning my hands to avoid the chips to damage a lot (so I'm some kind of masochistic heat sink), I know I'm very insane

Solder wick is okay, but a bit rude when looking it near. But it's better for some stuff and definitely usable in comparison with my shitty equipment.

I'll look at that brand, it looks better than the shit I use at the vocational school. Ans the pen is very handy in comparison to the classic "nail polish" bottle. Is it a total replacement? How does it work? Can you recharge the pen with flux? Is the flux usable for SMD too?

I want to get hot just a heatgun and a soldering station, but a desoldering station or DIY one on top of the soldering station. My hands and sanity need it!

Just a note about solder suckers:

Solder suckers destroy my fingers. It's very annoying! I'm not the most precise person and I know I would need to use good tools instead being an artisan, but I'm unable to use these SUCKERS without having annoying fingers damage and sometimes even more than that.

I know my tendencies to use more force than needed in certain tasks, that's why I use clicky keybords or my hands hurt too.

[fubar.gr]

DIP packages and pin headers can be a royal pain. Having a desoldering station like the ZD985 can be a real life saver.

I personally use the similar ZD915 station. I fire it up even when I want to desolder a single component. It works cleanly and quickly, with very small chances of damaging something.

Here's a video I made of the ZD915 station.



Unfortunately it's not in English, but here you can see me desoldering a DIP from an old ATX PSU https://youtu.be/PBSwKepUcpw?t=335

Here I'm desoldering a capacitor from an old PC motherboard. https://youtu.be/PBSwKepUcpw?t=581
The temp was set to 340 and it failed to suck all solder, so I added some more and tried again with the temp set to 420

And here I'm trying on a SATA connector: https://youtu.be/PBSwKepUcpw?t=717

[bookaboo]

Fubar I had an identical unit and I found it clogged constantly, then when disassembled for cleaning it was a real pain to put back together. Of course there's a chance I was doing something stupid but I've tried several of these types of units and found them all more hassle than they are worth.

Do you find it works on tough tasks like desoldering pins directly attached to large ground planes? That's where I found it really struggled.

[fubar.gr]

Fubar I had an identical unit and I found it clogged constantly, then when disassembled for cleaning it was a real pain to put back together. Of course there's a chance I was doing something stupid but I've tried several of these types of units and found them all more hassle than they are worth.

Do you find it works on tough tasks like desoldering pins directly attached to large ground planes? That's where I found it really struggled.

The tip has a huge thermal mass, it can melt pretty much everything, ground plane or not. It might have problem melting components with small pads/pins, but this is mostly because there's not enough contact area between the component and the tip. Adding some solder beforehand can help.

I haven't encountered any clogging. If it does clog, simply use the included cleaning rods and it's good as new.

Some things that are annoying:

1) There's a rather loud fan in the main unit that runs constantly. Dave's model doesn't seem to have this fan

2) When the temp is set above 380C, the pistol grip will become uncomfortably warm after a while.

3) Cleaning the solder catching spring can be tough and messy. Some people have ditched the spring entirely and put a small piece of cotton instead. When finished, they simply throw the cotton away.

4) Swapping tips is not easy. You have to wait at least 10-15 minutes until the tip is cool enough to handle. If you deal with a lot of different sized components the downtime can be a PITA.

5) Sometimes the screw nut that holds the tip in place comes loose and the tip flaps around. Probably due to the thermal expansion of the different types of metals used in the tip assembly. Tighening it again by hand is impossible, it's too hot. You need to have a pliers handy.


On the plus side, it is cheap, it gets the job done and spare parts are cheap and readily available.

[KL27x]

My ZD 915 didn't come with the densely coiled spring trap. It came with a loose coil spring and a cotton disc. And also there's a tiny rubber disc gasket that falls out when you take it apart. So there are at least 3 tiny parts to deal with when you disassemble it, not including the glass tube. The most annoying part is the tiny black rubber gasket.

I had the same problem of clogging, initially. What I learned is to turn the temp up way higher than I initially thought prudent. Also, to clear it, I find a piece of piano wire with a little bend at the very end, chucked in a hand drill, to be effective to clean the gun, cold or hot.

Also, I have learned that rosin flux is the last thing you want to be sucking up through a desoldering gun. I don't use any, if possible. I should try some kind of inorganic flux for desoldering. But for the most part, I find adding any additional flux unnecessary for desoldering.

[Mad Professor]

Sorry for the delay in my response.

I would like to thank everyone for there advice.

In the end I brought a Duratool D00672 Digital Desoldering Station, it was the closest I could find locally and within my budget.
It did not take long to get used to it, and remove all the required ic's.
I have also used it since with other boards, I wish I had brought one a long time ago.

Thanks again.

Best Regards.

[Capa-Alpha]

PACE SX-100 Desoldering Handpiece is the best!

See

[Mosaic]

I use Hakko 880 for heavy joints and solderwick on ICs like DIPs or SOICs. For smd parts  &  BGAs or TQFPs  you'll need hot air to about 280°C. I never tried the chip quick bismuth solder as an approach to drop the desolder temps yet. I add flux and fresh solder sometimes first.

[McBryce]

A cheap trick I use: If you are worried that all the desoldering and poking around with braid will damage the IC (which is entirely possible), put one of these clips on the component top side contacting all the pins before you start. Not only will it give you added ESD protection, but it also works as a temporary heatsink to keep the temps in the IC to a minimum.

Clip: https://image.freepik.com/free-photo/metal-paperclip_2475815.jpg

McBryce.

[tooki]

Do you notice any negative effect on desoldering itself? I mean, does having that huge heatsink draw away heat? (I could envision too much heatsinking drawing away so much heat that the desoldering takes much longer, being worse in the end.)

[McBryce]

No not really. I think the pin acts as a bottleneck for the heat. It's definitely not like when a huge ground plane is directly connected to the pad. The chip still gets hot, but not nearly as fast as it would without the clip.

McBryce.