geekhack
geekhack Projects => Making Stuff Together! => Topic started by: immol8 on Thu, 09 April 2015, 05:42:05
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hi! i was wondering what kind of equipment do you guys have for desoldering. does anybody have a desoldering station?
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You don't need an expensive iron, unless you plan to do many more projects in the future..
But to do a "desoldering" of any keyboard at all.. You'll want some soldering wick, AND possibly a desoldering pump..
many utube vids on how to use both..
You NEED BOTH.. wick and pump.. for desoldering.. if you're just mostly soldering, you can get away without the wick.
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The totally cheap and simple way is this:
http://www.cnaweb.com/desoldering-pump.aspx?gclid=CL3u2p606cQCFRHl7Aod3jYAIA (http://www.cnaweb.com/desoldering-pump.aspx?gclid=CL3u2p606cQCFRHl7Aod3jYAIA)
But it won't work for more than a few keyboards' worth of work.
For a bit more money, but still cheap, these are much cleaner and more effective:
http://www.radioshack.com/radioshack-45-watt-desoldering-iron/6402060.html#.VSaJbpOK7Yg (http://www.radioshack.com/radioshack-45-watt-desoldering-iron/6402060.html#.VSaJbpOK7Yg)
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I got the Hakko FR-300 desoldering gun:
http://www.hakko.com/english/products/hakko_fr300.html
Money well spent. Wish I got this way before I got into keyboards, but it does save you A LOT of time. It does seem a lot initially, but if you're desoldering numerous boards, it's well worth it.
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You don't need an expensive iron, unless you plan to do many more projects in the future..
But to do a "desoldering" of any keyboard at all.. You'll want some soldering wick, AND possibly a desoldering pump..
many utube vids on how to use both..
You NEED BOTH.. wick and pump.. for desoldering.. if you're just mostly soldering, you can get away without the wick.
I used to solder some stuff for class... and all i used was a cheap soldering iron and a sponge. I've never actually desoldered before, but it seems pretty simple... I'm very concerned about melting parts of the pcb... so a soldering wick would probably be very useful. I understand that i probably don't need anything expensive but i've been looking at a few desoldering stations and i find it very convenient to have the tools i'll need in one package.
The totally cheap and simple way is this:
http://www.cnaweb.com/desoldering-pump.aspx?gclid=CL3u2p606cQCFRHl7Aod3jYAIA (http://www.cnaweb.com/desoldering-pump.aspx?gclid=CL3u2p606cQCFRHl7Aod3jYAIA)
But it won't work for more than a few keyboards' worth of work.
For a bit more money, but still cheap, these are much cleaner and more effective:
http://www.radioshack.com/radioshack-45-watt-desoldering-iron/6402060.html#.VSaJbpOK7Yg (http://www.radioshack.com/radioshack-45-watt-desoldering-iron/6402060.html#.VSaJbpOK7Yg)
ooo i've seen a few videos of people using those soldering pumps... radioshack is still around? :p where does the solder go in that iron?
I got the Hakko FR-300 desoldering gun:
http://www.hakko.com/english/products/hakko_fr300.html
Money well spent. Wish I got this way before I got into keyboards, but it does save you A LOT of time. It does seem a lot initially, but if you're desoldering numerous boards, it's well worth it.
I was looking at the hakko fr-300, but i thought it was kind of weird to hold a soldering iron like a gun. this may seem a little extreme, but i really like how everything is packaged in the hakko fm-240 and the weller wxd2020 kit. i do have a few projects in mind (actually they're in my sketch book) that'll help with the cost of these desolderstations.
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If you have that kind of cash to spend on a station, and you don't have compressed air, I'd suggest Pace MBT-301, having one myself. The only downside is that the desoldering tool takes a fair amount to heat up compared to the other stations, but makes up for it in very cheap tips. JBC is a bit better, but a fair amount more expensive for their DDSE, plus the tip costs are at least about 2.5x as much.
With compressed air, I'd go for a Metcal MX 5251. Excellent soldering and especially desoldering power at a very reasonable price.
Weller WX stations look good on paper, but I have concerns with their usage of 4 or 5 different handpieces for regular soldering, where everyone else uses 1 or at most 2 (for a micro wand type). There were some concerns on the forums with their wands randomly going into standby. I'd still would love to have one for direct comparison against the Pace/Metcal/JBC though :D
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I've posted a couple of times about it in the soldering thread, but I got myself a cheap de-soldering station (well ~<$100) a while back. https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=42824.msg1598873#msg1598873 It has it's perks, including clogging up easily if not handled the right way. I still consider it a very good buy. Almost anything with pins simply falls out on its own.