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2008-05-21 by Steve
I'd appreciate recommendations from those with experience regarding desoldering stations. I need to acquire one for hobbyist use. I need it to be ESD safe. It will be used mostly for SMT circuit boards, but occasionally for desoldering through hole components. Desoldering stations seem to start in the $200 range and go up from there. What features and functionality should I look for in a desoldering station? Thank you. Steve
2008-05-21 by Stefan Trethan
Hi Steve, I found the cheap AOYUE and clone units are not up to scratch for me. Just bought a DENON SC-7000 desoldering gun at work (~350eur), that one works great so far. But somewhat out of my price range for home use. I haven't found anything even useable below that price, so far. ST
On Wed, May 21, 2008 at 1:45 PM, Steve <steve65@...> wrote: > I'd appreciate recommendations from those with experience regarding > desoldering stations. I need to acquire one for hobbyist use. I need it > to be ESD safe. It will be used mostly for SMT circuit boards, but > occasionally for desoldering through hole components. > > Desoldering stations seem to start in the $200 range and go up from > there. What features and functionality should I look for in a > desoldering station? > > Thank you. > > Steve > > ------------------------------------ > > Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, and Photos: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBsYahoo! Groups Links > > > >
2008-05-21 by Dylan Smith
On Wed, 21 May 2008, Steve wrote: > Desoldering stations seem to start in the $200 range and go up from > there. What features and functionality should I look for in a > desoldering station? This may seem like heresy, but it works for me: a B&Q hot air gun. (B&Q is a home improvement store chain, if you're not somewhere in Britain or Ireland). I have had great success using this inexpensive hot air gun on SMD and through hole boards, both for recovering components off redundant kit that I want to use later, and for reworking and repair, and even soldering new components on with solder paste. Its low setting is 260 celcius.
2008-05-21 by DJ Delorie
For SMT, what I do (if possible) is put the board back on the hotplate. Of course, this doesn't work if there are any parts on the back, or PTH parts. For most other cases, I use a Metcal Talon, but unless you can pick one up on eBay (like I did :) it might be a bit pricey. Talon in one hand, tweezers in the other - pick the part off the board with the Talon, then grab it with the tweezers to get it away from the talon.
2008-05-21 by Stefan Trethan
Of course! SMD needs a hot air tool, not a desoldering tool. I missed that. Contrary to the desoldering tool the AOYUE (and clones, xytronics etc.) hot air tool works great. I have one at work and one at home, no real complaints about either. These cost 50-100eur and make SMD rework really easy. ST
On Wed, May 21, 2008 at 5:11 PM, Dylan Smith <dyls@...> wrote: > On Wed, 21 May 2008, Steve wrote: > >> Desoldering stations seem to start in the $200 range and go up from >> there. What features and functionality should I look for in a >> desoldering station? > > This may seem like heresy, but it works for me: a B&Q hot air gun. (B&Q is > a home improvement store chain, if you're not somewhere in Britain or > Ireland). I have had great success using this inexpensive hot air gun on > SMD and through hole boards, both for recovering components off redundant > kit that I want to use later, and for reworking and repair, and even > soldering new components on with solder paste. Its low setting is 260 > celcius. > > > ------------------------------------ > > Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, and Photos: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBsYahoo! Groups Links > > > >
2008-05-22 by Steve
So the hot air heats the solder to allow removal of the component, right? How do you get the solder off the pad or out of the hole in preparation for replacing it? Seems like a vacuum tool would be useful for that function. Steve Stefan Trethan wrote: > Of course! > > SMD needs a hot air tool, not a desoldering tool. I missed that. > > Contrary to the desoldering tool the AOYUE (and clones, xytronics > etc.) hot air tool works great. I have one at work and one at home, no > real complaints about either. These cost 50-100eur and make SMD rework > really easy. > > ST > > On Wed, May 21, 2008 at 5:11 PM, Dylan Smith <dyls@...> wrote: > >> On Wed, 21 May 2008, Steve wrote: >> >> >>> Desoldering stations seem to start in the $200 range and go up from >>> there. What features and functionality should I look for in a >>> desoldering station? >>> >> This may seem like heresy, but it works for me: a B&Q hot air gun. (B&Q is >> a home improvement store chain, if you're not somewhere in Britain or >> Ireland). I have had great success using this inexpensive hot air gun on >> SMD and through hole boards, both for recovering components off redundant >> kit that I want to use later, and for reworking and repair, and even >> soldering new components on with solder paste. Its low setting is 260 >> celcius. >> >> >> ------------------------------------ >> >> Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, and Photos: >> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBsYahoo! Groups Links >> >> >> >> >> > > ------------------------------------ > > Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Links, Files, and Photos: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBsYahoo! Groups Links > > > > > -- Read The Patriot It's Right -- It's Free http://PatriotPost.US/subscribe/ Veritas vos Liberabit
2008-05-22 by Stefan Trethan
For SMD, you don't have to remove it, just re-use it for the replacement component. If you do want to remove it, it's fairly easy with SMD, desoldering braid for example will work great on surface pads as long as you don't let it cool to the copper and rip the pad off with it. A desoldering iron is in my experience the best for removing solder out of PTH holes, by a good margin nothing comes close. It will also work very well to clean SMD pads, but as i said before reasonably good ones are expensive. (Just that we don't get any confusion about it again, a desoldering iron is a soldering iron of some type where the tip has a little hole in it through which solder is sucked by vacuum. Key parts are the hole in the heated metal tip and the vacuum on demand. If those are not present it is not a desoldering iron in my understanding). ST
On Thu, May 22, 2008 at 3:05 AM, Steve <steve65@...> wrote: > So the hot air heats the solder to allow removal of the component, right? > > How do you get the solder off the pad or out of the hole in preparation > for replacing it? Seems like a vacuum tool would be useful for that > function. > > Steve >
2008-05-22 by Alexis Shaw
Hello List I need a board with soldermask done, Who would you sugest. Alexis Shaw
2008-05-22 by agscal -AGSCalabrese
Try guru.com Gus On May 22, 2008, at 8:19 AM, Alexis Shaw wrote: Hello List I need a board with soldermask done, Who would you sugest. Alexis Shaw [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
2008-05-22 by DJ Delorie
Alexis Shaw <alexis.shaw@...> writes: > I need a board with soldermask done, Who would you sugest. 1. Please don't reply to an unrelated message as a way to start a new thread. This message was buried in the "desoldering station" thread in my mail reader. 2. Since this is the HOMEBREW list, I suggest you :-)