Desoldering without braid

Ok, you got your soldering iron and nothing is going to hold you back, but you have no clue where to start or what to build. There were others before you with the same questions... read them first.
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gruforevs
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my favorite amplifier: Fender Deluxe Reverb '65 reissue

Post by gruforevs »

Hey,

I just got my hands on a soldering iron and I found myself stuck. I had nothing to solder, only parts to unsolder from old broken stuff. And I have not found any desoldering braid/wick so I just went to town anyway. I just heated up the solder and pulled the parts out. The parts seam fine to my novice eyes and I don't really need to use the board again so I don't really care about left over solder on it. I was just wondering if their are any dangers to the parts by desoldering this way.

Thanks for your help.

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ralley
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Post by ralley »

You should be fine as long as you don't leave the iron on the parts too long and overheat them - then again I've never managed to damage a component this way and I was pretty cack handed with my iron when I started out. Some times the little bits of solder left on the component leads can make them difficult to get in the hole again but they can be cleaned up.
Rob.

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gruforevs
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Post by gruforevs »

Awesome. Thanks so much for your help!

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lolbou
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Post by lolbou »

...and sometimes leads are bent, so you have to force a lot to remove them, and that can be a problem...
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TWANG
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Post by TWANG »

I clip em with side cutters.. small sharp ones.. as best I can
so the bent part is mimimized
then I pry with a tiny screwdriver wedged against a safe part for the fulcrum.
then I pull them out with fingertips on the other end.

the real hassle for me hasn't been the bent part being a drag though it can get sort of caught.
it's pulling hot solder back through the hole then not being able to heat through the other side without feeling i have too much heat on the solder pad/trace side.

so I put a little bit of jumper wire, solid of course, into a piece of wood.
and I heat that then heat the solder pad as I push it gently through.

it makes the hole a hole again.. usually taking that solder that had pushed through the hole
out the other side, sort of driping along it.
so I either clip the wire, or take off the wooden handle and just pull it through.

I always file each component leg to as fine a point as I can with the entire area that passes through the board
and into the solder pab being nice and shiny from filing as well.
takes less solder to get 'em in and has proved safe if patience demanding.

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bigmufffuzzwizz
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Post by bigmufffuzzwizz »

Solder suckers help a lot! The one from radioshack hasn't given me any problems and its gotten a lot of use.
Magic Pedals Home of The Shrine Fuzz!

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