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Vacuum desoldering gun vs Hot air station

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PurpleAmaranth:
I got a METCAL SP-PW3-11 desoldering unit for free. Seems to work by heating the solder, pressing the trigger and then it vacuums it up? Not sure the unit fully works, but I'll have to play around with it more. I've never seen one of these before, I've always used either copper braid (annoying) or hot air to desolder. I'm considering selling this to buy a hot air station (I only have an iron currently). Is there an advantage to a system like this over hot air? Seems like hot air is more versatile, and works just fine for desoldering, so why buy these apparently rather expensive units?

dorkshoei:

--- Quote from: PurpleAmaranth on March 22, 2024, 03:07:48 am ---Seems like hot air is more versatile, and works just fine for desoldering, so why buy these apparently rather expensive units?

--- End quote ---

If you have to remove a significant number of thru hole components you'll quickly find the above comment isn't true.

If you are not careful you can also easily damage the PCB with hot air trying to remove thru hole.

Hot air can be useful for final state of removing thru hole where the vacuum can't quite clear the hole. 

And obviously hot air is good for smd.

J-R:
I use the Hakko FR-301 for clearing through-holes and the Hakko 850 for SMD.  I'll never give either of those up.  Before that it was just a solder-sucker or braid and a conventional soldering iron.

I've been watching this guy lately and he seems to have some mad skills as well as a decent mix of equipment: https://www.youtube.com/@northwestrepair

tooki:

--- Quote from: PurpleAmaranth on March 22, 2024, 03:07:48 am ---I got a METCAL SP-PW3-11 desoldering unit for free. Seems to work by heating the solder, pressing the trigger and then it vacuums it up? Not sure the unit fully works, but I'll have to play around with it more. I've never seen one of these before, I've always used either copper braid (annoying) or hot air to desolder. I'm considering selling this to buy a hot air station (I only have an iron currently). Is there an advantage to a system like this over hot air? Seems like hot air is more versatile, and works just fine for desoldering, so why buy these apparently rather expensive units?

--- End quote ---
Equating hot air and vacuum desoldering tools is like equating a stovetop and oven: they’re both heat-based cooking devices, but there is very little overlap in their applications.

Continuous-vacuum desoldering is more or less the only way* to reliably desolder multipin devices from PCBs with plated through-holes. (And even then, only with proper technique. Just melting and sucking won’t do it, you need the right motion at the right time, too.) Every other kind of solder sucker or wick leaves residual solder in the plated hole, frequently leaving the pin stuck by a tiny amount of solder. Continuous-vacuum desoldering with the right technique lets you melt the joint, suck of the solder, and then cool the joint while the leg is free, preventing it from soldering itself back on.

Hot air is great for SMD, and as a source of auxiliary heat for vacuum desoldering (like when a ground plane is sucking away all your heat).


*OK, technically it can also be done with a small solder bath, or with special desoldering blocks that are basically special tips that heat every pin simultaneously. I don’t think anyone makes the latter anymore. But both of these methods leave the holes filled with solder, leaving you with an extra step to clear the holes. There are also “desoldering needles” that are basically stainless steel tubes you shove into a melted solder joint, around the pin. Never used them, no idea if that method is any good or not.

wraper:

--- Quote from: PurpleAmaranth on March 22, 2024, 03:07:48 am ---Seems like hot air is more versatile, and works just fine for desoldering, so why buy these apparently rather expensive units?

--- End quote ---
Hot air does not work for large TH parts, nor it should de used on phenolic PCBs (FR2) due to very high chance of causing damage. These are very different tools for very different uses. If the question is which one of two you should get if you must chose only one, then it's a hot air as it's a must for SMD. However hot air has barely any use where desoldering iron is used.

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