Budget through-hole desoldering station/gun?

[george graves]

Soon I'll need to be desoldering lots of Through-hole parts.  About 100-200 parts once a week - a few DIP-8's, and mostly LED and some TH switches on double sides boards.  The boards are very small, less than an inch square - high quality, and can take some heat/time.  For me, de-soldering isn't much fun - actually, that's not really true, I kinda hate it.  And the solder sucker, and de-soldering wick isn't going to cut it.

My budget is about $100.

I was kinda thinking that something with a vacuum, built in would be best for this kind of work.  But I'd love to know some options.

Here's what I've found so far:


http://cgi.ebay.com/Electric-Vacuum-Desoldering-Desolder-Gun-Solder-Sucker-/320727288865?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aacd60c21

And of course the RS desoldering iron.  I don't own one yet - but if there is one locally I'll give it a go.  Seems a bit wonky for large jobs.



Any advice?

Thanks!

gg

[Psi]

i've often wondered how well these things work, but i've never used one.

I also have to desolder stuff quite often. Mostly its 10-20 bad caps off old embedded motherboards.
I found the best method was a HUGE iron tip that can touch both pins of the cap at once. Then you just pull on the cap and it pops out easily.

The hard bit is clearing the holes out for the new cap. I found it quicker to clear out only one hole (the one that's not on the ground plane). Then i can cut the new cap legs at different lengths so the cap goes part the way in (until the other leg hits). Then i just heat up that hole from the other side and the cap will slide in all the way.

[Kiriakos-GR]

My Electric Vacuum De soldering gun is the DENON  SC5000 (made in Japan) looks like the Chinese one as design,
and it costs about  800 EUR.

Here is a picture of the most modern model DENON 7000.

http://www.denondic.co.jp/en/products/sc7000.html

[saturation]

Hot air is a simple fast way.  The 858D even came with an IC popper accessory for that task all for $63 delivered, but you should do the safety remediation to insure its safe to use.

Here's a video of how to remove the solder from the pads, and imagine that an IC is on it.  The popper is just a wire lever to work the ICs out.  For transistor and passives, you just pull them out with pliers or similar.

If you are going to reuse the PCB, you'll need to clean off excess solder with hot air and a solder wick.

[george graves]

Interesting - I've never seen a hot-air rework used like that.

I have a 858D.  It's the 110 volt US model.  It's just that I was hoping that removing the components, and cleaning up the holes enough for to resolder the new part would be a one-step operation with a vacuum type set up..  Let steps, less time, less heat, ect...no? - But that looks like it might be worth a try.

Actually - that makes me think that I could almost try something involving a shop vac on the other side and the PCB held in a jig.....  Hmmmm.  Or the radio shack iron attached to a shop vac?

[Joshua]

Try this:

Get a heat gun or possibly a hot air gun. I think a heat gun is probably better because it has hover flow rate. I got one at harbor freight tools for $12:00usd.

Get yourself a pair of needle-nose pliers, and a bucket, preferably metal.

Hold the pcb with the pliers upside down over the bucket. (put the soldered side towards your face.)

Then heat an area of the board by moving the heat gun back and forth so as not to create burnt spots. Once  you see the solder reflow in that area, keep the heat gun moving over it still, and give the board a good whack on the side of the bucket. 98% of the parts will fly out into the bucket. You will have to reach around with another set of pliers and pull out dip packages and the like.

Proceed to clean out the small number of holes that still have solder in them.


Good luck!


(p.s. Are you the same George grave s that records ask an engineer? Just curious...)

[saturation]

Yes, a vacuum set up works, its the old way to do it, but hot air is more versatile as you can't use the vacuum set up for SMT.  If you have multiple board to work on,  and since you already have an 858D, why not try it.

Its much easier than vacuum as it blow the solder away; you use the solder wick to mop up the excess solder or put the shop vac on the component side of the board as you blast hot air on the solder side after you remove the IC.  You may not need much wick as most of the holes are cleared when the excess solder that blocks the holes are stuck to the ICs.

Hot air works fairly quickly at 400C, recall solder melts at under 200^oC.

Interesting - I've never seen a hot-air rework used like that.

I have a 858D.  It's the 110 volt US model.  It's just that I was hoping that removing the components, and cleaning up the holes enough for to resolder the new part would be a one-step operation with a vacuum type set up..  Let steps, less time, less heat, ect...no? - But that looks like it might be worth a try.

Actually - that makes me think that I could almost try something involving a shop vac on the other side and the PCB held in a jig.....  Hmmmm.  Or the radio shack iron attached to a shop vac?

[george graves]

Thanks guys - that give me some things to try.

(p.s. Are you the same George grave s that records ask an engineer? Just curious...)

Yep!  That's me: http://twitter.com/georgegraves

[george graves]

Looks like that I want is the Hakko 808 for about $200.
Or I can take a chance on a knock-off for about $100 on ebay.

http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7351

Hello.

Funny you should mention the Hakko 808 desolder gun...

I just bought one last week! I was going to write a review on it soon, but now is OK too.

I got one with the optional plastic case. It comes with an extra plastic solder reservoir, some filter pads and some metal shields. There is also a wrench for removing the tip, two cleaning rods and a handy high temperature sleeve to stick the tip in so you can put it away before it completely cools down.

A quick look reveals a few things:
1-- The tip heater is on whenever it is plugged in so you must unplug it when not in use.
2-The only switch is the trigger button that turns on the vacuum pump.
3-There is a recessed temperature control that you adjust with a screwdriver. The manual indicates that multi-layer boards require the most heat.
4-The tip wrench unscrews the barrel which retains the tip.
5-The solder reservoir is an acrylic tube open at one end and having a metal shield and rubber seal at the other. The filter pad fits into the spring loaded plunger that holds the tube in place.
6- It is supplied with one 1.0mm tip and matching cleaning rod. Other sizes are available.

The Hakko 808 is a bit heavy to hold and grows a bit warm during use. During operation you are advised to contact only the solder and component lead, not the circuit trace. This done, the solder melts rapidly, you press the trigger and the solder gets sucked into the tip, passes through the hollow heater and enters the reservoir tube and strikes the metal shield.

If a clog occurs, the pump stops. The pump sounds suspiciously like an aquarium pump but really it's a two-chamber vacuum pump that you can easily look at by taking off the rear cover.


For desoldering single-sided PSU boards, it's perfect. Zap, the hole is clean in a second or so. Just pull the now loose cap out cold.

For desoldering multi-layered motherboards, I found that I usually have to add a little solder first. Sometimes it pulls the solder out perfect on the first try, other times it needs a little effort.
It's ALWAYS way easier than either the Radio Shack bulb sucker or the fingernail-breaking spring-loaded solder sucker contraption from Hades.

The manual is written for the soldering professional and contains a full parts list, repair instructions, calibration procedure, recommended desolder techniques and temperature settings. This is NOT an idiot-proof consumer-level disposable toy and is well worth the price of admission.

This is my first Hakko product and I'm impressed. The only things I don't care for is the fact that the handle eventually warms up a bit during use and the lack of a Power switch.
The quality seems better than my Weller soldering irons, so maybe I'll try a Hakko station sometime.

Have Fun!
Bzzzz! There goes another BadCap!
Keri

PS. Wow! it's the Mac Pro of soldering equipment! (ducks)

[Psi]

I tried using my hotair rework to desolder caps from motherboards without much luck. Seems like the heat isn't direct enough to get past the thermal heatsinking effect of the ground planes.

[saturation]

That certainly can happen, did you use the smallest nozzle and the maximum heat and speed?

I tried using my hotair rework to desolder caps from motherboards without much luck. Seems like the heat isn't direct enough to get past the thermal heatsinking effect of the ground planes.

[george graves]

^Yea.  I just tried max heat, max flow, with the smallest nozzle.  No go.  It didn't even move the solder.

That trick might work on a un-populated board, but it sure won't work on something like a dip package.

[saturation]

Not sure then what the story is.  I use the 858D to salvage parts from old video cards and PCBs from the 1990s without problem.  But they are a mix of through hole and SMT.  It comes out fast.

[ciccio]

I once had a Chinese clone of the HAKKO unit (paid about 150 euros many years ago) , but it was a mess: more time lost in clearing and repairing it than in actual use. It had a solenoid activated pump, that operated like a standard hand held desoldering pump, but it was not intended for repetitive use: if you did not allow it to cool down, it locked...
Maybe you can test some tools like this one:
http://cgi.ebay.it/EWIG-VAC-3000-dissaldatore-elettrico-portatile-/140361802385?pt=Saldatori_e_Tester&hash=item20ae372291
It is an "hot" desoldering pump"  made in Italy by EWIG http://www.ewig.it/english.htm, but sold with many different brands.
I had two of them, the older one (that was branded PHILIPS) was dark red and worked for many years without problems before being lost. The second one , still branded PHILIPS, had a different plastic,  colored  black/dark gray, and more fragile (it sometimes broke or lost one small bit) , but it worked for two-three years before being sold.
I've seen copies or similar units made in China, but I've never tested them.

[nukie]

PC motherboards are quite stubborn. Try warming up the solder area to 180c with hotair. Then attack with iron. Try setting up a jig to hold all everything in place.

I tried using my hotair rework to desolder caps from motherboards without much luck. Seems like the heat isn't direct enough to get past the thermal heatsinking effect of the ground planes.

[toli]

You could try and get something used. I got a Hakko 470 for a bit over 100$ locally. Its needed some work (the heating element was blocked, and the nozzle was damaged - I've drilled away the solder that blocked the heating elements air way, and ordered a new nozzle - ended up with a fully working unit for about 125$.

I've used it quite a bit since and I'm unbelievably happy with it. I've used it to remove TH components with 14 legs and more, and they simple fall off the board once I'm done with it.

Hakko usually make good gear that lasts for years, and have replacement parts as well.

[bobski]

The Aoyue 474 desoldering station is in your price bracket, though I can't say how well it will hold up to long term use. As is the case with most of their products, Aoyue's desoldering guns take their design from Hakko. So much so that you can use Hakko brand filters in the Aoyue desoldering guns. Interestingly, Aoyue has actually taken some initiative and improved on the Hakko design: The metal tube that carries solder back to the filter is attached to the tip, which better heats the tube and reduces clogging.

About a month back, I adapted my Aoyue 968 station and a gun intended for the 2702 so they play nice together... It seems to be working great so far. Part of my adapting work was adding a thermocouple to the desoldering gun. When asked, the folks at SRA told me none of the Aoyue desoldering gun heating elements included such a thermocouple. That says to me that the desoldering guns are all adjustable wattage (or duty cycle), rather than temperature. I suppose temperature control isn't as important in desoldering work since you're generally removing components that are already fried.

[img]

I wonder if Aoyue 474 can be made to work with Hakko 807 handpiece...

[saturation]

I just did another salvage and thought I post a pic.  I get a lot of free parts this way, many linear op amps, voltage regulators, and specialized chips ... here's an old sound card fully depopulated with the Atten 858D workstation, took about 1 hour as I gently remove all the parts.

Key tools are an IC popper,  a long neck screwdriver, and tweezers.  The popper will take care of most DIPs, the screwdriver for long DIPs, and tweezers most anything else.  I also use the notorious 'helping hand' because its cheap and takes heat well and if it breaks, its easy to replace .. so far its intact and my oldest ones are 15+ years old.

On the Atten, DIP solder melt in seconds at 400C.  For SMT I have to drop the heat to 300C, and the fan speed or it blow the parts away.  I spent more time position the board than desoldering.

^Yea.  I just tried max heat, max flow, with the smallest nozzle.  No go.  It didn't even move the solder.

That trick might work on a un-populated board, but it sure won't work on something like a dip package.