Homebrew PCBs

On Saturday 29 May 2004 08:53 pm, crankorgan wrote:
> Roy,
>     The ones we had made by Pace used a thin wall stainless steel tip.
> The tip got hot. These days I use a heat gun (PaintStripper B&D) to
> remove parts from proto boards so I can reuse them.

I've seen those heat guns,  never thought about using one to get parts off a 
board,  and didn't know that they reached solder-melting temperature.  It 
shouldn't be a surprise,  though,  since they'll make paint bubble up pretty 
good...

> To replace a part I cut the pins of the part next to the body of the device.
> I then heat and remove one pin at a time.

I've seen that advice in repair-oriented material before.  I guess it depends 
on what you want to unsolder for.  Much of mine has been to salvage parts,  
but I guess I have enough parts these days that it'll take a *LONG* time 
before I'll ever use 'em all up.

> I sometimes use a solder sucker to open the holes after that or a toothpick
> with flux on it.

I've done that,  used the one-shot desoldering tools,  and also braid,  
depending on what I'm working on.  Different styles of boards tend to have 
different results,  and sometimes one will work better than another.