solder sucker + soldering iron to desolder 87 switches, my first project, am i being ambitious?
Here are a few tips I wish someone had given me before my first desoldering project:
- If it's a dual sided, thick PCB, leave the tip of the iron on the joint for a full 1-2 seconds (with temp around 600f) to ensure all of the solder liquifies. This will make it suck out much easier.
- If you are having trouble with a joint, heat it and add fresh solder, then attempt to remove again. works much better.
- You will probably have many switches where you remove 95% of the solder, but one or two of the pins are still stuck to the pad by a tiny amount of solder (again, mostly with double sided PCBs). If this happens, use the hot iron tip to free the pin while you pull the switch from the other side. If you're unlucky, two pins may do this at once, and you'll have to go back and forth between them. Just don't use force, or you'll pull out the copper trace and have a bigger problem.
Of course, if anyone wants to suggest even better techniques than these, go for it.