Desoldering (Again)

I will certainly agree with that. I use a Weller TCP, which is a pretty basic tmeperature-controller ion, but it works. A few times (one quite recently) I've tried to use a friend's cheap iron and given up (and grapped the Weller). I find it very difficult even to solder a single-siDed PCB with a cheap iron, let alone decolder a throuhg-hole-plated one. It is said that the bad workman blames his tools. I feel this is often becasue the good wookmand has good tools, uses them appropriately and looks after them. Note that this doesn't necessarily mean the most expensive tools. Not really/ ChipQiuick forms an allot with the existing solder with a much lower melthing point, but you still usr a normal soldering iron, at the normal tempeature to mult it (certainly when doing throuhg-hole parts). The idea is that the PCB/device will remain hot enough for this low melting point alloy to remain soft while you go over all the connections, and you can keep it molten with a fairly low-temperature hot air stream.. That way, you can have everything molten at once and just yank the device out. It's moslty used for large pin-count SMD devices. I've never used it, and I don't think it's necessart for DIL parts. I don;t know what you have at the momnet, but if it's not temperature-controlled you are making life difficult for yourself. I'd get a Weller TCP. You'll need a 24V AC supply (at about 2A) to run it, the official Weller stand/PSU is nice but also expensive. The Weller is old technology -- it works by having a piece of special alloy on the back of the bit, the curie point of which is the desired tempearutre. Inside the shaft of the iron is a themostat witch which is closed when its magnet is attraced to that alloy/ Wehn the iron is up to tempeature, the magent stops being attracted, the thermostat swtich opens, the element is turend off, etc. Wimple, reliable, and I can understand how it works ;-). Theyt've been around for years, but parts are very easy to obtain. -tony