RE: Goot Desoldering Gun

> > It's not a plate, it's just a very fancy heat gun, with temperature and
> > air pressure controls. Once you have the temp and pressure dialed in,
> and
> > the leads straight, heat the part up and pull it out. The trick is
> making
> > sure the leads don't have any bends to catch in the holes.
>
> This doesn't scorch the PCB? Or are you just well practiced with the
> length
> of time that you can expose a surface to "warmth of the sun" 8-) ?
>
With a little practice it's not too bad to adjust temp/airflow to get just
to the solder melting point, but not so hot as to burn the board or cause
*too* much stress on the components. Most solder will flow freely by about
500 degrees F. Probably lower than a lot of soldering irons...

I have a Hakko 850 hot air-rework unit. There are tips available that jet
hot air only on the pins of various devices-- DIP, PLCC, whatever. The main
problem is that the tips are around $150 a pop. :-(

For bulk-removal of through-hole parts I'm going to get a big solder pot.
Just basically dip the back of a section of board and start lifting out
devices. If the boards have had the leads bent over or something though
that can be pretty tough.

For through-hole rework I bought a Weller 4624. It's about like a PACE or
Hakko vacuum desoldering station. Built in pump, etc. Works pretty well--
tips aren't too expensive. Like the Pace and Hakko's I've used you have to
keep the collection chamber pretty clean...

-Clay
Received on Thu Jun 10 15:53:04 1999