Old motherboard part salvation :)

[ChrisGreece52]

Hello recently i got 2 pcs from school and i wanted to salvage parts from their motherboards!!!
Here are some pics of the motherboard number one and generaly the items  scored!!!
But the thing is the connectors and the usb hubs ... dont know how to remove them (without damaging them)





Thank you
Tell me what you think please

[mariush]

The headers will be kinda hard to remove without some hot air gun. Heat up the pcb under the usb connectors, add solder to the pins and then keep getting the solder liquid and shaking the connectors until they come out.

People use solder pots to remove these things fast:



You can buy cheap solder pots from ebay, dealextreme, dinodirect but they're often downright dangerous with poorly insulated heaters or mains wires inside - unless you know what you're doing to inspect such thing before using, you shouldn't use one.

[ChrisGreece52]

The headers will be kinda hard to remove without some hot air gun. Heat up the pcb under the usb connectors, add solder to the pins and then keep getting the solder liquid and shaking the connectors until they come out.

People use solder pots to remove these things fast:



You can buy cheap solder pots from ebay, dealextreme, dinodirect but they're often downright dangerous with poorly insulated heaters or mains wires inside - unless you know what you're doing to inspect such thing before using, you shouldn't use one.

Thank you and sorry about the pictures

[ecat]

The large copper ground planes and power planes can make it difficult to heat a small area of the board. If the component is a must have part and/or you do not have a sufficiently powerful hot air gun you cut around the part out with a dremel greatly reducing the board area that needs heating.

If all you have is a soldering iron and you need to remove a multi-pin part you can hold the cut out piece of board in a vice and very carefully cut between the pins - a dremel + small abrasive disk is ideal for this. Once you have cut around all the pins it is a simple matter to heat and remove the remaining little pieces of pcb.

A messy process with lots of nasty dust but effective if the part you are after is worth more to you than a working board

[c4757p]

The large copper ground planes and power planes can make it difficult to heat a small area of the board.

That's for damn sure. If you're ever feeling either suicidal or homicidal but can't work up the courage, just spend a few hours trying to rework a PC motherboard.

My lawyer recommends I tell you that I don't condone this.

[ChrisGreece52]

The headers will be kinda hard to remove without some hot air gun. Heat up the pcb under the usb connectors, add solder to the pins and then keep getting the solder liquid and shaking the connectors until they come out.

People use solder pots to remove these things fast:



You can buy cheap solder pots from ebay, dealextreme, dinodirect but they're often downright dangerous with poorly insulated heaters or mains wires inside - unless you know what you're doing to inspect such thing before using, you shouldn't use one.

Well then i should not use one .... i am kinda irresponsible and i forget things more often than i should!!!
So ill try the method of flux and solder on the pins ill answer tomorow and hopefully i could salvage some connectors to show you....

[ChrisGreece52]

I think you are right anyway i dont pretty much care for these motherboards so drilling to reduce heat dissipation will be a nice alternative.But this board does not have such a big area for any component to dissipate heat ....

[c4757p]

But this board does not have such a big area for any component to dissipate heat ....

There are entire internal copper layers that are solid planes covering almost the whole board area.

[ChrisGreece52]

But this board does not have such a big area for any component to dissipate heat ....

There are entire internal copper layers that are solid planes covering almost the whole board area.

Right ... did not think about the internal layers at all ....   i suck today

[mariush]

Don't bother cutting the boards, you'd kill the dremel or the drills .. motherboards have lots of layers (6-10 layers) with copper between them... both copper and fiberglass are hard on drill bits and dremels... and fiber glass is also hard on your lungs (you'd have to use some protection on your mouth to not breath that in - you can find in hardware stores dust masks relatively cheap which helps A BIT but aren't guaranteed to trap all the fiber glass particles.

Not all solder pots are dangerous, just those chinese ones. In theory you could buy one, remove the cup that holds the liquid solder and just go to your stove and heat up the cup and the solder in the pot on your stove. No risks then.
The hard to get part in those is the cup, which has to be made from a metal that doesn't do bad things to the solder or doesn't interact with the solder... if not metal, it's a ceramic material.

If you want really dangerous, see this: http://hackaday.com/2012/04/25/homebrew-solder-pot-is-too-dangerous-even-for-us/

The nut got a halogen lightbulb and covered it with solder, the heat from the lamp melted the solder around - if the bulb explodes all that solder splashes around

[c4757p]

That is hilariously unsafe. I can see members of my family doing that. And then dying.

[ChrisGreece52]

Don't bother cutting the boards, you'd kill the dremel or the drills .. motherboards have lots of layers (6-10 layers) with copper between them... both copper and fiberglass are hard on drill bits and dremels... and fiber glass is also hard on your lungs (you'd have to use some protection on your mouth to not breath that in - you can find in hardware stores dust masks relatively cheap which helps A BIT but aren't guaranteed to trap all the fiber glass particles.

Not all solder pots are dangerous, just those chinese ones. In theory you could buy one, remove the cup that holds the liquid solder and just go to your stove and heat up the cup and the solder in the pot on your stove. No risks then.
The hard to get part in those is the cup, which has to be made from a metal that doesn't do bad things to the solder or doesn't interact with the solder... if not metal, it's a ceramic material.

If you want really dangerous, see this: http://hackaday.com/2012/04/25/homebrew-solder-pot-is-too-dangerous-even-for-us/

The nut got a halogen lightbulb and covered it with solder, the heat from the lamp melted the solder around - if the bulb explodes all that solder splashes around

First : Then i wont go with cutting the board.
Second:How the solder in the pot will be kept hot if i remove it from the stove ? (or you mean leave it inside ?)
Third:THAT GUY I CRAZY!!!!

[c4757p]

Second:How the solder in the pot will be kept hot if i remove it from the stove ? (or you mean leave it inside ?)

How does ice stay solid in my drink after I remove it from the freezer?

[ChrisGreece52]

Second:How the solder in the pot will be kept hot if i remove it from the stove ? (or you mean leave it inside ?)

How does ice stay solid in my drink after I remove it from the freezer?

So it will still be cold after a few minutes due to its huge thermal mass?

[c4757p]

Second:How the solder in the pot will be kept hot if i remove it from the stove ? (or you mean leave it inside ?)

How does ice stay solid in my drink after I remove it from the freezer?

So it will still be cold hot after a few minutes due to its huge thermal mass?

FTFY - yes.

[ChrisGreece52]

Second:How the solder in the pot will be kept hot if i remove it from the stove ? (or you mean leave it inside ?)

How does ice stay solid in my drink after I remove it from the freezer?

So it will still be cold hot after a few minutes due to its huge thermal mass?

FTFY - yes.

Right Thank you!!!

[ChrisGreece52]

But from all this thinking a new question came up .... what shall i do with the CPU it an INTEL PENTIUM 4 running at 2.8 GHZ !!!!
But the thing is that it has pins ... not contacts like my I5 for example. ...

[mariush]

You can just leave it on the stove and lower the gas pressure when solder is hot enough and  when solder cools down, turn the knob to get more heat on it.

Of course, you don't put the pot directly on the naked flame and give yourselves burns when you put the component to desolder on the pot, you put the pot on stove plate or on a thin roof tile (the classic ones not metal or plastic ones that are available nowadays)

sell the p4 on ebay, you'll get 5-10$ for it.

[c4757p]

Hit it very hard with a hammer and see how many pieces it makes? Could make for some interesting artwork.

[ChrisGreece52]

You can just leave it on the stove and lower the gas pressure when solder is hot enough and  when solder cools down, turn the knob to get more heat on it.

Of course, you don't put the pot directly on the naked flame and give yourselves burns when you put the component to desolder on the pot, you put the pot on stove plate or on a thin roof tile (the classic ones not metal or plastic ones that are available nowadays)

sell the p4 on ebay, you'll get 5-10$ for it.

Thanks for the info but ... 5-10 usd... does not seem to worth it ....

[ChrisGreece52]

Hit it very hard with a hammer and see how many pieces it makes? Could make for some interesting artwork.

LOL but no... is it so useless?

[c4757p]

If your head has a CPU socket you can insert it and you will be able to do very fast arithmetic mentally. Otherwise, yes, it is quite useless. It belongs paired to a motherboard, which you just destroyed.

[ChrisGreece52]

I love your answers BUT i have the exact same motherboard twice so there is no problem with that... but i have to fix the bad caps that the other one might have but will be worth it ?

[Fsck]

If your head has a CPU socket you can insert it and you will be able to do very fast arithmetic mentally. Otherwise, yes, it is quite useless. It belongs paired to a motherboard, which you just destroyed.

they kind of make neat keychains.

[c4757p]

Oh, that's a good idea! If only they were smaller.