17 Jan
2017
17 Jan
'17
12:18 a.m.
I've used Hakko vacuum de-soldering stations, and will agree that - at
least for production work - they are superior. But most of my handwork and
re-work has been with spring-loaded solder suckers, and here's what I've
found.
The full-size 'Soldapult' devices are probably the best of the bunch, in
terms of both vacuum power and displacement. They're also easier than some
to clear out. Now having said this, I will NEVER again buy a genuine Edsyn
Soldapult tool, after my experience with that company. It went like this:
Bought a brand-new full-size Soldapult at +retail+ from an auth'd
distributor. It worked for exactly around 20 minutes until it broke,
totally. Said distributor +refused+ to take it back, told me to contact the
manufacturer (and you'll see why, next). Contacted Edsyn and they simply
refused to warranty it - period - no matter what.. I even told them exactly
what went wrong and asked for the (simple) parts I'd need to repair it.
Nope! Sorry! Nada.
Then I got on the eBay and bought 2X of the China knock-offs plus 4X spare
tips, which have been working fine now for 7-8 yrs. I put my faith in Edsyn
and they just gave me the fat finger. Heck with that outfit.
On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 9:00 PM, Eric Smith <spacewar at gmail.com> wrote:
On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 7:33 PM, dwight <dkelvey at
hotmail.com> wrote:
Patience is almost always a good idea, but it's not required with a good
vacuum desoldering station. Last fall I installed a DIN 41612 connector on
the wrong side of a board, and only discovered that after soldering more
than half of the 96 pins. I thought it was going to be a nightmare removing
it, but the Hakko made short work of it (less than 5 minutes), and it came
out very cleanly.
Hakko says that the replacement for the discontinued 472D-01 (110W) is the
FR410-03 (140W), and it looks like a nice unit, but it is much more
expensive. The FM-204 (70W) would be easier on the budget, but I haven't
tried it, so I have no idea whether the reduced wattage would be an issue.
Some people may be unaware that with temperature-controlled soldering
equipment, more wattage is almost always better. That is NOT true for
uncontrolled (or poorly controlled) soldering equipment, such as cheap
soldering pencils; with those it's quite possible and easy to damage
boards, as a consequence of either too little or too much wattage.
Eric
It is interesting, I do take longer with the hand
tools but I've never
seen as much damage as with a desoldering type iron.
The tips are too small to hold a good tin and the suction cools the
joint too fast.
Doing it with regular irom and a pullit does take skill. One has to know
how to work the pin and the iron. One has to know when a pin is
desoldered by feel.
I've always had mediocre results at best when using a separate sucker, and
good results with a vacuum desoldering station. I use a Hakko 472D-01, and
it works beautifully. I've desoldered thousands of connections with it, and
have never had any damage to PCBs or components. I have two different size
tips for it, and haven't had any issue with the tip tinning. Once the
solder melts and you hit the button, it extracts the solder far faster than
it can cool, so I've never had any problem with cooling the joint to
quickly.
Patience is also required.