Desoldering SMD capacitors

[Rerouter]

In cases like this where you have a heat sensitive work piece , high wattage and high thermal mass work the best, the goal is to have the joint melted and done before the heat has any chance of flowing up the pin and heating the electrolyte, compared to the pins the capacitor has a high thermal mass, so if the time is short, only a tiny amount of heat reaches the electrolyte.

The fact that your cranking your iron so high would imply your not even adding lead solder to the joints first, which creates a lower melting point and weaker joint that is easier to seperate. After part removal you would then clean the mixture off the pads and use your solder of choice.

[janoc]

The fact that your cranking your iron so high would imply your not even adding lead solder to the joints first, which creates a lower melting point and weaker joint that is easier to seperate. After part removal you would then clean the mixture off the pads and use your solder of choice.

As I have mentioned above, yes, I did in fact add leaded solder for this exact reason. I hope you realize that those caps are reflow soldered and when you add leaded solder, you are adding it to (and heating with the tip of the iron) only maybe 10% of the lead that is accessible, the rest is soldered under the case of the cap. So the effect is limited in this case, as is the heat transfer effect.

Preheating the board from the other side would likely help but I don't have anything suitable to preheat it with. Will have to figure something out for the future because similar jobs are starting to be more frequent here.

[KL27x]

I remember removing these caps before. Quite a few of them. But somehow I don't remember how, lol. I have some bismuth solder, and maybe I used some of that. I may have just done the lift one end at a time, method, back and forth until the bead disconnects. Either way, I don't recall having much of a struggle, using only one iron.

I might have even used hot air, before, but I think that's going to end. I've never exploded one, and I'd rather keep it that way.