Are you a solder-wick dude or a vacuum tool man?

[N3DRB The Derb]

man, I hate vacuum solder removers. Always been a solder-wick dude, always will be.

What do you like and why?

note: talking about typical old point to point radio work, not smt or PC board.

[KB2WIG]

I use the heat-and-flick method........  works FB on the small stuff.............

Keep the shoes tied and feet inside, under the bench.... it hurts


klc

[KL7OF]

you're not doing it right unless you've got solder in the carpet and curtains!

[KA8WTK]

"you're not doing it right unless you've got solder in the carpet and curtains!"

or on the cat!

[W3RSW]

Fun topic.
Use the melt and bang-it-hard on something tactic for stuff like pot terminals if they're un-mounted.

Use melt and blow for stuff thats already mounted.
Use wick for PC board stuff larger than SMT.

What's really hard is to de-mount stuff with more than 2 pins. The ol' "melt one, rock it a bit, melt the other, rock some more" works when your too lazy to dig out the wick or use other methods of doing it right.

Never do something the right way when you can try the hard and dirty way first!  (anon)

[ka3zlr]

I gots a little Red Sucker Bulb I've used for years...careful with the heat and flick...Eyes are non-replaceable...I guess you could get a transplant...I dunno..be careful....

[KB2WIG]

The cat is too smart to be around hot things that he can't eat.....


klc

[WBear2GCR]

Not sure  but I thunk this is a technoid topic, not a QSO topic?

But, I vastly prefer a good spring loaded vacuum sucker over wick. I rarely have been able to get wick to properly wick, it usually just gets hot and causes the foil on the board to lift, without taking enough solder off... must be something wrong with my technique??

I bought a used Weller power desoldering station, but that worked like carp... I expected that a power suck with a hole in the heating part would be just the thing, but at least this one isn't/wasn't what I expected it to be...   

             _-_-bear

[flintstone mop]

I enjoy both modes of Desoldering. Melt and bang or use my trusty Soldapullit tool. The Pace solder sucker sucks and I have never mastered the Wick. It has never worked for me.

Fred

[KA8WTK]

"I rarely have been able to get wick to properly wick, it usually just gets hot and causes the foil on the board to lift, without taking enough solder off... must be something wrong with my technique??"

I used to have the same trouble. What I came up with was taking a little solder paste on my finger and wiping it on the wick. Seems to make the solder just flow right into the wick.

About the eyes...I wear regular glasses all the time. However I wear prescription safety glasses at work all day. During the week I just don't change them when I get home before I go into the shop. They are slightly different in shape and "close-up" area so I don't try to adjust for a few hours in the evening. Having said that, I have found solder on the glasses after a particularly messy session. The glasses, both safety and regular, have saved me injury several times over the years.

[N3DRB The Derb]

phred,

I used to work for PACE when I was a little JN back in the 80's.

[W1UJR]

This works fine business here at W1UJR.

Hakko Desoldering Station

www.hakko.com/english/index.html

No solder on the floor, walls, carpet, or cat (no cat here).
Also works nicely on those multiple lead turn joints that Collins loves.
Just touch, 5 seconds later pull the trigger, and you have a solder free joint with no damage to components, or to your prized ocular input devices.

Perfect for this



Let's You Go From this


To this



Which leads to this

[KA1ZGC]

I'm a de-slobbering iron kinda dude myself, even with pre-PCB gear (which is pretty much my entire shack). Never had good results with braid.

Mind you, using a seperate iron and sucker bulb isn't very effective. Too much cargo in small areas. The sucker irons are a one-handed affair and remove far more slag than a seperate bulb.

I have a shadio rack 45W slobber sucking iron that's a good 20 years old at least. Works dandy on eyelets, posts, and printed circuits. Just squeeze the bulb, apply the iron, wait for the solder to melt (plus a half a second or so), release the bulb, point the iron at a non-porous surface, and squee the slobber back out again. You might still have a bit of surface tension, but another quick touch with the iron will break that while you remove the conductor in question.

My high-school sweetheart used to go around picking up all the slobber splats from the floor around my bench. She was easily amused by shiny things. 

The bulb is starting to crack around the base from age, heat, and use; but still works okay-fine for me.

To each his own, I guess.

[KF1Z]

I'm with Thom....

I use a rat-shack sucker... 

If you do get into through-hole components, you can blow the hole clean....

For SMD I use wick... (I know, Derb, you said point-to-point....) but I threw it in anyway....

[W3SLK]

I'm a big one for the old blue Edson Sold-R-Pulit. But sometimes, it won't get that last fry of solder. That is when I use the wick. I gots me a nice PACE station that I scored at Timonium for $25. It didn't have a vacuum pump but that wasn't a problem since we replace them regularly on our CO analyzer. I got a neat one to do the job. I wonder if the PACE station was hot, (even though it wasn't plugged in)

[N3DRB The Derb]

I probably either built, inspected, or worked with engineering on improvements on your Pace unit. I worked on the smt line and the "big blue" cased units. The SMT units are wimpy IMO, but the blue cased units have a GE carbon vane motor that will suck pads off a poorly made board. They REALLY SUCK. 

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Why would you need a solder sucker or wick when you can just use a JS clip lead?

[W3SLK]

Derb, mine is a silver and black unit IIRC. It essentially is nothing more than a temperature controller for the iron and desoldering iron. It has a port in the back for a vaccuum. The vaccuum pump I have can pull it down to roughly 0.6 PSIA.

Steve said:

Why would you need a solder sucker or wick when you can just use a JS clip lead?

Heh, heh. 

[W2XR]

This works fine business here at W1UJR.

Hakko Desoldering Station

www.hakko.com/english/index.html

No solder on the floor, walls, carpet, or cat (no cat here).
Also works nicely on those multiple lead turn joints that Collins loves.
Just touch, 5 seconds later pull the trigger, and you have a solder free joint with no damage to components, or to your prized ocular input devices.

I have the same unit. Of all of the solder removal devices I have used over the years, this works the best.

I was really lucky in obtaining mine; my boss gave it to me.

He's a great guy!

73,

Bruce

[AMroo]

Yep for sure - if you aint got a Hakko you probably still think wick works best.

The pace cant be kept clear long enough and it the power that it sucks with sucks.

My 474 follows every desolder with good volume suction sound right after its ripped all the solder right offa the joint.

I use a Hakko at work and home.

[ka3zlr]

I dunno I always thought some of those systems are overkill but i guess if one is spending a great deal of time tearing down and component replacement I guess there's a Place..for the average workshop naaaa.

Another service problem waiting to happen, because of intermittent useage...i dunno...

[Ed/KB1HYS]

I use one of the spring loaded Suckers.  Works ok fine, as long as the solder is truely molten.

Wick works ok, but requires flux (In my experience) to be on it to really pull the solder off.

[W1RKW]

For me it depends on the situation.  I'll use the sucker, braid, bang-it, compressed air or wire method.

The sucker can be a pain  to use at times. I find injecting it with silicone helps the slober eject very easily. Without the extra slickum I'd throw that tool against the wall.

Braid I find works best with a little extra rosin for big stuff but otherwise works good for small PCB work.  I usually puff up the braid by wiggling the end of it a bit before hitting joint.

Bang-it speaks for itself.

Compressed air I use for desoldering boards I don't give a crap about.  It's messy but gets the job done.

Wire method I use for surface mount components.

[N0WVA]

I use the heat and thump method.....but for multi-leaded components, like IC's, I hold a straw in my mouth and blast it with a shot of breath when the solder melts.

[W1EUJ]

Soldersucker: It drinks the solder from the joint, or it gets the iron again.