Author Topic: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board  (Read 4365 times)

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Offline mapleLCTopic starter

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Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« on: July 02, 2022, 11:06:10 am »
I would like to experiment with recycling a circuit board that has numerous op amps that are useful to me.  I can do this once, and its boring and time consuming, but ok then it gets old because it wont be the first and last board I will want to recycle.

Its become time consuming, and some of the things I have read are simply not working.  For example, a paint heat gun and a bucket, followed by tapping the board when upside down... like 2 little caps came off after the board browned in an area.  You're doing it wrong I guess?

Are there any better ways to do this other than time consuming, dirty, and sometimes unsuccessful methods like this or a simple iron and wick, or soldering station heat gun?

I had the idea of using the oven, a board upside down, sustained heat and gravity to see if pieces would slowly shower down.  I worry I will cook all the parts. 

So help would be appreciated
 

Online xrunner

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2022, 11:09:22 am »
What about these types of soldering iron tips - the ones that touch all the pins at once?

https://www.circuitspecialists.com/solderingtips
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Offline SMdude

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2022, 11:42:59 am »
I have done it using a normal hot air gun.
Practice with some boards that just don't matter. I just heated it up and turned it upside down and whacked it on something.
Heating the board upside down in the oven won't work as the surface tension of the solder will keep the parts in place. You just need to be a little more violent, like you just don't care.

As for trying to desolder using solder wick, nope, flood both sides with solder and swap the iron back and forth until you can slide it off.
If you have a hot air station as well you can use hot air to assist and use the soldering iron as above.
 
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Offline mapleLCTopic starter

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2022, 12:24:31 pm »
So seriously, I'm just not waking enough neighbors?  Ok then.  I will try banging harder.
 

Online jpanhalt

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2022, 12:44:54 pm »
If they are through hole IC's, you may need to push a little.  I have used a propane torch (soft flame) to do that.  It was an old frequency generator, and I got the RF cans off easily too.
 

Offline SMdude

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #5 on: July 02, 2022, 12:54:35 pm »
If they are through hole IC's, you may need to push a little.  I have used a propane torch (soft flame) to do that.  It was an old frequency generator, and I got the RF cans off easily too.
Yes! I remember back in the 90's scrapping some TV boards, used the oxy torch and a few good whacks :-DD Probably still have those parts somewhere, could be worth something these days..

Bugger the neighbors Maple! Though mine are all several hundred meters away so they don't hear much from me, even at midnight.
 

Offline pqass

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #6 on: July 02, 2022, 01:44:23 pm »
Are there any better ways to do this other than time consuming, dirty, and sometimes unsuccessful methods like this or a simple iron and wick, or soldering station heat gun?

Use a solder pot. See 2:00 into:
 
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Offline mapleLCTopic starter

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #7 on: July 02, 2022, 03:06:43 pm »
Are there any better ways to do this other than time consuming, dirty, and sometimes unsuccessful methods like this or a simple iron and wick, or soldering station heat gun?

Use a solder pot. See 2:00 into:


Thats the ticket... I wish it didn't need that 3rd world looking soup of molten solder to use it, but he got those parts off like nothing.
 

Offline RoGeorge

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #8 on: July 02, 2022, 03:16:40 pm »
If you have an electric grill, put the PCB above the grill at a small distance, as if it were meat, and let it heat until the solder starts to melt, but no more than 2-3 minutes.

After that, most of the components can be picked by tweezers and pliers.  If you don't care which part is coming from where, just take the heated PCB from above the grill and hit it sharp to the floor or to a metal tray.  Most of the SMD parts will just fall from the PDB into the underneath tray.

Offline pqass

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #9 on: July 02, 2022, 03:27:40 pm »
Are there any better ways to do this other than time consuming, dirty, and sometimes unsuccessful methods like this or a simple iron and wick, or soldering station heat gun?

Use a solder pot. See 2:00 into:
...snip youtube video...

Thats the ticket... I wish it didn't need that 3rd world looking soup of molten solder to use it, but he got those parts off like nothing.

Yeah, that's a lot of solder!  The slag/crap is easily scraped off, though.
I haven't tried this myself but maybe you can use a wide yet shallow aluminum dish on hot plate?   
 
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Offline mapleLCTopic starter

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #10 on: July 03, 2022, 01:35:46 am »
Are there any better ways to do this other than time consuming, dirty, and sometimes unsuccessful methods like this or a simple iron and wick, or soldering station heat gun?

Use a solder pot. See 2:00 into:
...snip youtube video...

Thats the ticket... I wish it didn't need that 3rd world looking soup of molten solder to use it, but he got those parts off like nothing.

Yeah, that's a lot of solder!  The slag/crap is easily scraped off, though.
I haven't tried this myself but maybe you can use a wide yet shallow aluminum dish on hot plate?   


I looked and this 100mm size is the largest until they get way more expensive.  Frankly this is not even a product, its a hot plate.  I could do this on my stove but le wife would balk.

Noodling this a bit...

A cast iron frying pan holds heat well, and more solder would create a larger pad to remove from.  A $39 hot plate and a cast iron skillet would give you enough room for a pretty substantial board on and remove parts.  You'd need several KG of solder to fill it, so there is that.
 

Offline james_s

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #11 on: July 03, 2022, 01:41:05 am »
I do it with a heat gun. I heat up a section of the board, then whack it on the bench and the parts drop right off.
 

Offline pqass

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #12 on: July 03, 2022, 06:08:45 am »
Are there any better ways to do this other than time consuming, dirty, and sometimes unsuccessful methods like this or a simple iron and wick, or soldering station heat gun?

Use a solder pot. See 2:00 into:
...snip youtube video...

Thats the ticket... I wish it didn't need that 3rd world looking soup of molten solder to use it, but he got those parts off like nothing.

Yeah, that's a lot of solder!  The slag/crap is easily scraped off, though.
I haven't tried this myself but maybe you can use a wide yet shallow aluminum dish on hot plate?   


I looked and this 100mm size is the largest until they get way more expensive.  Frankly this is not even a product, its a hot plate.  I could do this on my stove but le wife would balk.

Noodling this a bit...

A cast iron frying pan holds heat well, and more solder would create a larger pad to remove from.  A $39 hot plate and a cast iron skillet would give you enough room for a pretty substantial board on and remove parts.  You'd need several KG of solder to fill it, so there is that.

Even if you use a large diameter [old] skillet you don't have to fill it as long as your board can fit within.  But you'll need to hold the board from above; eg. stiff wire through a couple of holes.  And you'd only need 1/4" depth of molten solder at most.  Don't use your good stove for this; use a dedicated hot plate.  I wouldn't want this anywhere near my kitchen or indoors.
 

Online Messtechniker

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #13 on: July 03, 2022, 06:15:01 am »
I do it with a heat gun. I heat up a section of the board, then whack it on the bench and the parts drop right off.

Doing the same here too. :horse:
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Offline tkamiya

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #14 on: July 03, 2022, 06:33:10 am »
There is a product called "ChipQuik."  It's a special alloy which melts at ridiculously low temperature and mixes with solder remain in liquid state for long time.  You could apply ChipQuik to all 8 leads of OP AMP, and simply pull out the chip.  Be forewarned though, this stuff is rather expensive.  But if you are working with rare or valuable chips, it's a good stuff.
 
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Offline vk6zgo

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #15 on: July 03, 2022, 06:43:56 am »
Are there any better ways to do this other than time consuming, dirty, and sometimes unsuccessful methods like this or a simple iron and wick, or soldering station heat gun?

Use a solder pot. See 2:00 into:


So, in the words of the old song: "What we need is a great big melting pot"?  ;D
 
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Offline pbarton

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #16 on: July 03, 2022, 09:01:58 am »
 

Online jpanhalt

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #17 on: July 03, 2022, 10:04:48 am »
I might suggest wearing safety glasses. :)
 

Offline bd139

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #18 on: July 03, 2022, 11:16:35 am »
I would leave them on the board until you need them. Then desolder them one at a time.

I would not want to desolder everything off the attached boards for example!
 
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Offline mapleLCTopic starter

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #19 on: July 03, 2022, 12:19:16 pm »
I would leave them on the board until you need them. Then desolder them one at a time.

I would not want to desolder everything off the attached boards for example!
That seems like a large scale time suck.  It saves you the minimal amount at the beginning, but requires large scale cataloging.  Then you remove that all important chip, forget, then 5 years later need one?
 

Offline bd139

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #20 on: July 03, 2022, 02:07:46 pm »
They all come out of one bit of kit so I just scan the service manual. I pulled all the precision parts, high value bits and things I ran out of already with a desolder station. Everything else I will go looky findy if I need it.


 

Offline mapleLCTopic starter

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #21 on: July 03, 2022, 03:52:49 pm »
Ok so I went out this morning and got this.

I put all the old solder I had in it, but its nowhere near enough.

Once it melted the rosin was easy to wick with a paper towel, though its smoky and stinks.  Do this outside.

I also bought a small cast iron pan for little jobs.  The big one is to test out doing entire boards.

My first test was pretty positive, the board tends to float on the solder, parts that are not bent in place come right off, but the ones with bent leads tend to sink the board in the solder with force, so there has to be a way to improve this.
 

Online fourfathom

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #22 on: July 03, 2022, 06:29:10 pm »
I haven't tried this myself but maybe you can use a wide yet shallow aluminum dish on hot plate?

Do NOT use an aluminum dish or skillet!  I learned this the hard way when I was 12 years old, melting old lead tire-weights on the stove. (How did I ever survive my youth???  So many "learning experiences"!)
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Online jpanhalt

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #23 on: July 03, 2022, 06:29:15 pm »
You can buy pure 63/37 solder sticks without flux.  Much cheaper last time I did it.  You can also buy lead ingots in various sizes.  It appears solder ingots are about $12 to $15/# now. Spot price for lead (commercial market volume) is about $1/#.

I would be worried about Teflon long term at soldering temperature.  My solder pot is cast iron.  Cast iron baking dishes (e.g., for flat bread/corn bread) are at Walmart.
« Last Edit: July 03, 2022, 06:31:14 pm by jpanhalt »
 

Offline RoGeorge

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Re: Method to Remove All ICs from a Board
« Reply #24 on: July 03, 2022, 07:17:37 pm »
I didn't use any pool of melted solder.

Just put the PCB in the tray and wait a couple of minutes for the solder on the PCB to melt.  The electric grill was about 1500W (for example to unsolder a whole PC AT motherboard at once - some plastic connectors might deform a little, but the ICs and other components will desolder OK). 


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