How to unsolder a inline header 6x 100mil...

[alank2]

Hi,

I've got some header I need to remove from a pcb.  I've always had bad luck at this.  I've tried using a desolder pump, I've tried using a radio shack desoldering iron, I even tried flipping it over, attaching a weight to the header from the bottom so it would pull out, and applying hot air to the solder on top.  I tried 350 deg C with the higher air volume.  Still didn't go and my fingers were getting hot holding the board.  Any tips on the easiest way to get this header off and leave nice holes so I can mount a quad 7 segment display in its place? 

Usually I don't have trouble getting it off, but then having clean holes is a pain.  I was wondering if you could heat a hole and put something in it that won't adhere to any solder and won't melt either and then just pull that thing out, etc.

Having problems with both this time - any tips?

Thanks,

Alan

[poorchava]

If you don't care about recovering the header, then just heat pins really good and pull them out with some pliers. You can do this one by one as the plastic around the pins melts easily.

If you want to remove whole thing relatively intact, then take the biggest tip you have, make a big solder blob and try to heat all the pins at the same time, should work with 6 pins only.

It generally depends on what do you care about more: the pcb or the header.

[alank2]

I care about the pcb more - I don't mind cutting the header apart or separating the pins...

[nuhamind2]

I assume that the through hole part. My way is removing the black plastic that hold all the pin altogether using plier or some sort, then each individual metal pin can be removed one by one easily and if I'm being cheap i'll put back the metal pin onto the plastic thing to reuse it later.

[robrenz]

Tough to beat one of these JBC tips for that job

[alank2]

That tip looks nice!

I got it - I got them apart with side cutters and heated each one individually until it pulled from the bottom side.

What really helped me here and I don't know why I didn't think of it before was putting the board vertically in a small rubber vice and heating the hole from one side while using the solder pump on the other.  Nice clean holes with no solder so I could put the new component in place easily.

Thanks,

Alan

[macboy]

Another trick to clean holes is to use some twisted stranded wire, preferably with alittle flux on it. The stranded wire acts like solder wick to absorb the solder inside the hole.

I have in the past needed to replace components with very tight tolerance holes. After desoldering, I carefully used a wire-gauge drill bit in an x-acto knife handle to remove the last little burrs of solder from the hole. Copper is soft, but solder is much softer, so if you do this carefully you can avoid damaging the plated hole.