Remove lead-free solder from plated through holes & JBC DR560 bad impressions?

[matthuszagh]

I have basically two questions here: (1) how do I remove lead-free solder from plated through holes (without component pins) and (2) people that own the JBC DR560 desoldering gun: what do you think of it?

I've never really had great results with my DR560. It often leaves enough solder to stick the component lead to one side of the through hole. In these cases, I resolder the pin and try again. With leaded solder, I'm usually able to get it completely free after a few tries. Obviously for components with many through-hole pins this is a huge pain and it concerns me that I'm applying heat to the board for longer than I'd like. I've always assumed this meant I was simply bad at this, but it would be nice to have validation. So, if you have a DR560, does it work well for you?

I'm now in the process of replacing a few bad aluminum electrolytic caps on a PCB that used lead-free solder. The DR560 (or maybe it's my technique, I don't know) has been a nightmare. The best I could do was to suck up the solder on the pad, but I only got a small amount of the solder in the through hole. I finally gave up on this and removed them by using a small piece of solder wick, placing it in contact with both pads, heating it up with an iron and pulling the cap out. But, now I'd like to put in new caps and for the life of me I can't get the solder out. I cleaned the glass canister of the desoldering gun, cleaned the tip airway with the supplied metal cylinders and drill bits, and it's still not pulling out any of the solder. I tried adding more solder (admittedly leaded solder, which I've read is ok to mix with lead free, but let me know) and trying again. I tried holding the desoldering gun a bit longer on the pad than I normally would before engaging vacuum, to give it time to melt the solder all the way through. I tried different tip sizes. I increased the heat to 400C. But nothing. It's not even close to doing a passable job. Oh and of course I used flux too. I also tried getting the solder out by using a soldering iron and wick, but still no luck.

Thoughts? How can I get the solder out? How can I get better results with a desoldering gun? I'm willing to entertain the possibility that I'm just not great with a desoldering gun, but I'd be surprised if I'm doing something totally wrong. I watched the PACE videos for desoldering guns and tried to emulate the technique.

[matthuszagh]

Well I finally got the solder out of the holes. I used one of the cleaning pins for the desoldering gun to push the solder through the hole while melting it from the other side with an iron. This left most of the solder on the iron side, which I could then remove with a wick.

Still doesn't address my concerns about the dr560 though.

[Jwillis]

One of the biggest problems I have is when the solder starts to oxidize. Lots of flux helps when that occurs. But depending on the situation and the PCB. Heating with a hot air then whacking it down onto the table sometimes works or flicking with with a finger while heating. Holding the solder sucker on one side flat to the hole making a seal around the tip and heating from the other side works most times. Never used a desoldering iron because I never found a need for it.

[matthuszagh]

The performance improved a little after I replaced the filter. Still, it wasn't great and I get lots of sweat joints.

I ended up buying a Hakko FR-301 and the difference is night and day. I tried the Hakko on a joint I couldn't get with the JBC and it did it effortlessly. Considering the Hakko is something like half the price of the JBC, I'm pretty disappointed with JBC on this one. If anyone's considering the DR560, I'd strongly recommend going with the Hakko FR-301 instead. It's worth mentioning that I'm generally happy with my JBC soldering tools - this is an outlier.

[TopQuark]

Yea Hakko desoldering tools are amazing. I started out with a cheap chinese desoldering station and the frustration it brought almost made me loose faith in desoldering stations as a whole. I gave the Hakko FR-410 station a shot, and even the most difficult desoldering jobs became a piece of cake.

Stuff like removing all the through hole connectors and headers on a rasp pi without damaging pads are quite easy to do with the hakko unit.

[pope]

There's still some chance that the JBC has develop some fault and the brand new HAKKO will outperform it indeed. I'm just thinking out loud thought. I haven't used any of the two...

[jpanhalt]

Once the device is removed, I use Chemtronics solder wick.  Put it over the PTH, push it in just a little with a conical tip on my soldering iron, and it is gone.  If that doesn't do it, I add a little more solder and repeat.  Surface tension of the solder sucks it out. 

Worse case, I use compressed air to blow out the molten solder.  Vacuum might work if contact is really good, but it doesn't have the push that compressed air has.