Best brands for manufacturer's soldering?

[Appeac]

I recently ergo'd my clear Leopold TKL stealing switches from a Leo fullsize. About 50% on the 500R and 25% on the clear had bent pins. Do I just have bad luck, or is this a fairly common issue even among highly regarded brands?

[IvanIvanovich]

I've taken apart and put back together about a dozen boards, and I noticed that sometimes there are a lot of switch with the pins bent over. I think they do that so they don't fall out before they are solder in place. After I unsolder and unbent the pins the switches just dropped. LIkewise when I go and put it back together after change the switch I have to do the same myself and bend the pins so I can solder it without a hassle.

[Appeac]

I've taken apart and put back together about a dozen boards, and I noticed that sometimes there are a lot of switch with the pins bent over. I think they do that so they don't fall out before they are solder in place. After I unsolder and unbent the pins the switches just dropped. LIkewise when I go and put it back together after change the switch I have to do the same myself and bend the pins so I can solder it without a hassle.

Were they PCB or plate mounted? After I straightened them out, the plate kept them steady and I soldered them properly and they were fine. It was really annoying though, because I pulled up a few solder pads while removing the switches and had to patch them up before I could start reinstalling the switches. It sounds like it's just normal and something one has to deal with on plate mounts.

[IvanIvanovich]

I see it most on vintage plate boards, but sometimes pcb too.

[cgbuen]

Just came across this thread and had some similar concerns.. I'm hoping this gets some looks, since the topic title is a little different than the matter that's been discussed so far.

I'm very, very slowly creeping into the world of DIY. I recently got a couple of WYSE boards to practice on, and I desoldered the switches on one of them over the weekend using a Radioshack desoldering iron. I noticed a number of them had bent pins, which meant they weren't coming off after simply desoldering..

What's the best way to unbend them? I was using the Radioshack iron to try to manually bend them back straight, after the solder was already off. However this didn't always work even if I keep the iron on for a long time (which I imagine isn't a good thing), so I found myself trying to use screwdrivers or pliers - but then I scratched up the PCB like hell. Luckily it's just an old board.

And I guess I have a similar question to the OP's - is this very common among newer boards? I've got a Filco and a couple of QFRs that I'd want to work on sometime in the future, and was wondering if this is a common occurrence I'll have to look out for.

[IvanIvanovich]

I don't even unbend them anymore, I just push on the switch and let the removal unbend them. It's fine as long as they are completely desolder, it won't damage the pcb. I have broken a few pins that way though... but I usually don't care since I almost always have spare switches about.

[__red__]

Before you start you just need to decide what is more important to you.  The keys or the pcb.

Depending on which it's sacrificial would dictate which method I'd use.

[cgbuen]

Thanks for that perspective - for the future projects, the PCB is probably going to be more important to me, with the switches sacrificial.

I tried my hand at the other old board I have, and saw the same bent pin issue. It seemed like it was hard to suck the solder out under the bent part of the pin, so perhaps one of my main issues is not even being able to completely desolder it.

I apologize for my naivete and all the questions.. do I need to keep the iron on the joint for much longer to try to get rid of that final touch of solder while simultaneously wriggling/unbending the pins? Or do I need to keep going back and forth by adding solder and then trying to suck it back out until something good happens? What's better for the PCB?