On Dec 5, 2018, at 3:18 PM, bill@... wrote:

I've used the GC Electronics 12-2157 desoldering tool for a number of rework jobs, and it's always worked very well. I have not yet desoldered the relays on my v3 uBITX, perhaps this weekend if some time opens up (I have the Axicom relays ready to go).

Bill N2RKL

On Thu, Dec 6, 2018 at 04:30 AM, d balfour wrote:

I have soldered for 55 years Have used the bulb style with the teflon tips. It has only been recently that I have tried working on sm parts All my equipment has been too big.

I saw the post by Art and found this desoldering iron. Every hopeful.

On Dec 6, 2018, at 8:00 AM, Jerry Gaffke via Groups.Io <jgaffke@...> wrote:

I have never used a solder sucker on surface mount parts.
I don't think I would find much use for that particular tool,
even on through hole parts.

You do want a soldering iron with a very small tip.
Should have thermostatic control of heat, preferably with a knob to set the temperature.

Removing a surface mount resistor or cap, I use two small irons, one on each end
With a wider tip that can touch both ends you could get by with one iron, but I find two easier.

For something like a 3 pin transistor in a SOT-23 package, I first wick excess solder away
with copper braid and some flux.? Then heat and lift the lone pin on one side.
Then heat the other two pins using two irons.

For parts with more pins than 3, I cover nearby parts with tinfoil and hit the part to be removed
with a hot air gun.? An embossing gun (under $20) is sufficient.
Gently lift while heating using tweezers or Xacto knife, but don't tug too hard
or you will lift?pads and traces right off the board.
When the board is hot, the glues holding down the copper are not very strong.

Removing parts can be made much easier with a low temperature solder such as Chip Quik.
First remove as much of the old solder as possible using solder braid and flux.
Then apply a little bit of the low temperature solder to each pin using a soldering iron.
It now takes very little heat from a heat gun to remove that part.

Jerry


On Thu, Dec 6, 2018 at 04:30 AM, d balfour wrote:

I have soldered for 55 years Have used the bulb style with the teflon tips. It has only been recently that I have tried working on sm parts All my equipment has been too big.

I saw the post by Art and found this desoldering iron. Every hopeful.

I have never used a solder sucker on surface mount parts.
I don't think I would find much use for that particular tool,
even on through hole parts.

You do want a soldering iron with a very small tip.
Should have thermostatic control of heat, preferably with a knob to set the temperature.

Removing a surface mount resistor or cap, I use two small irons, one on each end
With a wider tip that can touch both ends you could get by with one iron, but I find two easier.

For something like a 3 pin transistor in a SOT-23 package, I first wick excess solder away
with copper braid and some flux.? Then heat and lift the lone pin on one side.
Then heat the other two pins using two irons.

For parts with more pins than 3, I cover nearby parts with tinfoil and hit the part to be removed
with a hot air gun.? An embossing gun (under $20) is sufficient.
Gently lift while heating using tweezers or Xacto knife, but don't tug too hard
or you will lift?pads and traces right off the board.
When the board is hot, the glues holding down the copper are not very strong.

Removing parts can be made much easier with a low temperature solder such as Chip Quik.
First remove as much of the old solder as possible using solder braid and flux.
Then apply a little bit of the low temperature solder to each pin using a soldering iron.
It now takes very little heat from a heat gun to remove that part.

Jerry


On Thu, Dec 6, 2018 at 04:30 AM, d balfour wrote:

I have soldered for 55 years Have used the bulb style with the teflon tips. It has only been recently that I have tried working on sm parts All my equipment has been too big.

I saw the post by Art and found this desoldering iron. Every hopeful.