RadioShack desoldering iron -- "it does what it says on the tin"

[IanB]

I just tried this out today, and I have to say that for $11.59 it's a bargain. Compare with the Hakko 808 at twice ten fifteen times the price.

It is very light and easy to use with one hand, leaving the other hand free to hold the circuit board. It has a comfortable soft grip handle and your thumb fits neatly on the bulb.

After you plug it in you have to wait for it to reach working temperature, which takes a little while. So you would leave it powered up while you are working, and not switch it on and off. It comes with a little stand to hold it off your work surface. The stand gets hot, so don't touch it (ouch!). The stand is not substantial, so I put it on a ceramic tile for added safety.

In use the tool works best for simple through hole components like transistors and ICs. When you apply the iron to the joint the solder melts instantly so you can remove the solder in just a second, minimizing excess heating of the component. I found the process much faster and easier than using desolder braid. For the most effective usage you slip the nozzle over the component lead flush with the board. You can use the nozzle to bend the lead upright in the process making it easier to remove the part afterwards.

I tried desoldering some heat sinks with larger mounting tabs. This was not so easy as the nozzle would not fit over the tab and I had to come at the joint from the side. Then of course the heat sink was conducting all the heat away. But after five or ten seconds of application I was able to melt the solder and suck it up. It took two or three goes from different angles to clean up all the solder. In this case maybe desoldering braid would work better.

However, for a 16 pin IC the tool worked brilliantly. All the pins were desoldered in moments and the chip just dropped out of the board.

Overall, for the price you may as well have it in your toolkit. There is nothing to lose.

[sonicj]

i have one of these. it works pretty good for $10.99!

it did seem to work better when i first got it though... i probably need to take the tip off and file off some charred flux or something.
-sj

[IanB]

You can buy replacement tips for it also.

[plunger]

Here's a video of it in action. Seems to work ok.



I just bought the Hakko 808 myself  Will be here in a few days. Seems like the easiest way so I splurged a little.

[mobbarley]

They work okay on normal leaded solder - some lead free blends are terrible with every desoldering method i've tried.

I splurged on one of these which is great:

(metcal mx-uk5)

[kripton2035]

great for sure, but absolutely not the same class price .....

[FenderBender]

The Radio Shack desoldering iron is literally the only thing I really say I "like" from Radio Shack. it's a really good value...because for some reason every other desoldering iron in the world costs a small fortune, and many times without good reason.