Anyway I am surprised to see it works so quick and clean without any pre-work, I usually first refresh the solder with new lead based solder before any attempt of desoldering, am I the only one doing that?
... to blow the solder out of the hole on the other side, bit messy but as long as the hole is clean the job is done. Anyone seen any of that sort of equipment?
And what was the real temperature at the nozzle compared to the setting? Did they use magic solder that changes the melting point depending on where it is?
Sure it is a cheap unit, but from the times you have given, i'd say it's really crap as well.
Huh? I don't understand what you are getting at here.
What times?
Actual tip temperature is a complex issue, and depends on a whole range of factors. Every soldering tool tip temperature will drop when placed on a large thermal mass component. Fact this this iron has more than adequate thermal performance for the job, it is not crap in that department.
I sometimes think at that moment it would be nice to revert from vacuum to hot airpressure to blow the solder out of the hole on the other side, bit messy but as long as the hole is clean the job is done. Anyone seen any of that sort of equipment?
The ZD-915 is available in the UK from Amazon at £84.99. The difference appears to be the way the holder is attached to the case and no sponge.
My Aoyue desoldering station doesn't give me near the same quality cleaned joints as Dave's station. I need to practice on some old boards again.
The ZD-915 is available in the UK from Amazon at £84.99. The difference appears to be the way the holder is attached to the case and no sponge.
No, it's not. Only the gun is available.
That price would be really bad, too. For the same price you can get the ZD-917, which includes a 60W soldering iron:
http://www.octamex.de/shop/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=1445
I find the effectiveness varies quite a bit with tip diameter which has to be matched fairly closely to what you're trying to desolder, too large a tip and it doesn't work so well. This is fine except the tips seem to wear out fairly readily. Not a big deal as they're only a quid and a half each but you have to let the iron cool down completely before changing them.
It doesn't, as Dave discovered, do multi-layer boards all that well.
I guess I could live with that. Are you saying the tips get eaten away by the solder like cheap soldering iron tips? Any guess on how many hours a tip might last?
What temperature do you use? When I do it with the soldering station and the manual pump, I crank the temp up to 450C on stubborn PCBs. I find it's actually easier on the board to do it hot and quick instead of slow-frying it at a lower temp.
I've read some Amazon reviews on the Aoyue, and it seems unlike the ZD's, the Aoyue tips aren't tinned. Meaning they're inert to the solder. Is that true? If so, that'd be bad, you wouldn't get a good thermal contact with that.