Have just tried to desolder a switch (from a towel rail timer) that seemed to have a ton of solder holding it in.
It's not an important thing as in I've replaced the timer, it was more out of interest in seeing if I could see what was what.
The way it was made is the spur switch on the front of the timer was soldered onto the PCB meaning I couldn't remove the PCB without desoldering the switch.
I have a new Hakko FX888d, decent flux, MG solder wick and a desolder pump.
First I tried with the Hakko on 350, didn't begin to melt the solder, then I tried at 450, it would melt, but took a good 5 - 10 seconds before it did so (this was straight onto the solder, not using the wick). I tried sucking it up, it got a lot, but left loads.
I then tried the wick, both as it was, and with a bit of flux added. I still really really struggled, in the end I gave up.
I've since watched a couple of vids that suggest putting leaded solder on first. I wondered if anyone could point me to a beginners desoldering guide vid? (I found good how to solder vids searching this forum)
I also have a hot air station, I'm wondering whether I might have been better using that to get the board off of the switch?
I've included 2 pics, first showing how bad my desoldering attempt is, second showing how much solder is on all the joints.
many thanks