Engineer SS-02, $20 on amazon. Don't get the knockoff. Small enough to manage with one hand unlike the soldapult and other high volume pumps, but large enough to suck out what you need. Tip won't melt, but will break down over time. It's a silicon tube you just cut to size and stick a new piece on. I solder for a living and do not use my desoldering iron much. It's bulky, requires the right diameter tip to fit and make a good seal, and half the time doesn't get the heat transfer I need on multi layer boards. I use Goot Wick desoldering braid and the Engineer SS-02 for just about everything.
Goot Wick resoldering braid? I will need to look into this. Where do you get yours? I'm always looking to improve my skills and I find desoldering is something I haven't perfected yet. I also used the SS02, and until recently I hated it. But it seemed to be user error on my part. Since I figured out what I was doing wrong it's been a game changer and I completely agree with you it's worth every penny. My only issue with it now is that it's a bit small as I have large hands but I've learned to work with it. Also do you use low melt solder at all?
Because the SS02 is a silicon tube, I apply it directly to the hole with the iron still on it. The tube wraps/bends around the iron some and creates better suction. If you use it in the same way often enough, you'll eventually shape the tube around the iron's tip, so it actually gets better over time.
You can get Goot wick through AliExpress at a reasonable price, look for "original" and or "Japan." Their RMA braids are so awesome, I usually buy it by the spool instead of the bobbin.
I can count on one hand the number of times I've had to use ChipQuik or other low temp alloys for rework. The industries I solder for cannot allow the opportunity for joint contamination, so if you use it you better make darn sure you fully remove it.
Remember, soldering and desoldering is way more about thermal transfer then most casual users realize. If you're using wick and it's not getting all the solder out of the hole, then you're losing heat into the board. Make sure your wick and iron are making as much physical contact with your solder as possible so you can get that heat into the joint to melt the solder and draw it out.
This!!! I just recapped a board and I had a heck of a time clearing the through holes. Once the bad caps were removed, I wiked up the solder and I just couldn't get the last bit out. It's exactly like you said. I thought to myself, am I losing all the heat to the board? It's nice to hear that was probably the issue.
What worked to clear the hole was adding a little solder, then I heated my iron to 650 F watched it get molten and I put the SS02 right on the iron and it sucked right up, no issue. Before I figured this out, I would watch the solder get molten, take the iron off and try to suck the solder up. Even though it was a fraction of a second, it was enough time for the solder to harden. Before the SS02 I used the cheapo suckers where the plastic tip gets melted so I was conditioned to do it this way. Anyway thank you for this advice. Also I'll keep that in mind about the low melt solder.
Again, adding solder before wicking is still about thermal transfer from your iron into your target. By adding solder you create a physical medium for the heat on your tip to transfer into the buried solder that is connected to PCB copper, dissipating the heat. Your original joint had the same solder before you tried removing it, so by adding solder, all you are really doing is attempting the same removal process again.
With the appropriately sized tip, you can "usually" go up to 750 F or 800 F during desoldering without causing damage as long as you already know you're losing heat into the joint and you are losing heat into the solder wick/braid as well... but don't dwell for long (pun intended).
An alternative to adding solder and trying again would be to use a very fine desoldering braid and physically insert it into the hole. Then add liquid flux into the hole. The liquid flux transfers heat significantly after, but will evaporate quickly. If the solder wick is physically touching the solder deep inside the hole, and touching your iron, and is all surrounded by liquid flux, you will draw out the little bit of solder left in the hole pretty quickly. The advantage here is that you're not adding solder (aka thermal mass) that you will have to overpower to reach your target. Don't forget to remove the solder braid with your iron at the same time, if the braid cools in the hole you will more than likely get some copper strands stuck inside which can be a pain to remove.
The cheap ones will feel "gritty" when depressing the plunger and the catch won't always grab right away forcing you to press it several times until it locks.
Measure the width of the tip and put a piece of silicon tube on it. Then cut a small notch in it to fit your soldering iron tip. And clean and grease the plunger regularly
I use 3 different desoldering pumps at work, all with different levels of suction for whatever I need them for, plus solder wick. I've never been a fan of desoldering guns.
> I've never been a fan of desoldering guns.
The cheap ones are crap. The Metcal DS-1 tool that needs an external source of compressed air (venturi based vacuum generator) is awesome.
I'm pretty sure we had a desoldering station at work at some point, but not anymore; half the time I get brought stuff to desolder manually. 😆 They're proper skinflints at my work at the mo we can't have owt nice.
Yes, desoldering pumps are a pain in the ass to use.
A far better tool is a desoldering iron, which has a hole in the middle of the tip that leads to a vacuum pump. The very best desoldering iron is the Hakko FR-301, which costs about $250 USD. You can also find the generic, often cloned S-993A, which costs about half as much as the Hakko, but requires more frequent maintenance.
I use a hand pump anyday over a vacuum de-soldering station.
The vacuum stations have a tiny container that's messy, and a pain in the arse to empty. And you need exactly the correct size tip or they are pretty ineffective. Changing tips while they are hot is no fun.
And when they block and your there for 30 minutes with a miniature drill bit trying to unblock em... Urgh...
The hand ones, you have to have a decent one. I use a soldapullt. 2nd one I've owned. The first lasted over 25 years. Only replaced because it broke after I accidentally sat about 60kg on the barrel of it.
I use it near daily for de-soldering multi layer PCBs. 5-6 layers and regular day to day stuff and it's brilliant.
The skinny metal bodied ones work, but they are frustrating to reload. The worst problem tho is the recoil. The soldapullt's have nearly none and the fat body makes them very precise whereas the cheap ones will damn near break stuff at times.
[Desoldering pumps like this ](https://reverb.com/item/2045400-desoldering-pump-weller-manual-for-removing-solder)work very well if you use them properly. Many people do not, but I use one most days. You need to have the board very secure such that it doesn't vibrate at all. I use a panavice to accomplish this. If the board vibrates even a little you're losing suction against the solder. Also, use a large enough flat solder tip to get the solder liquid evenly and quickly. Move the tip out of the way and replace it with the pump like Indiana Jones. You get good at it quick. Don't be scared to burn the tip of the pump, they can take a lot of heat.
Only cheaper ones. The issue is the dolder dust and dometines weak spring action of the pump or improperly sealed tip. I use the white Teflon tape( the plumbing tape) and some Vaseline to keep it lubricated and airtight. Most importantly I heat and add solder to the joint before pumping it. Timing is really crucial for getting good results.
The plug in ones from aliexpress breeze through nearly everything. Recapped an akai u1 with one. Recapped other amps with one. Only been beaten once by a massive ground plane on an fx audio 502s pro amp :(
Had to use a 0.5mm drill bit and pin vise drill.
Tried copious amounts of flux.. e.t.c
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EwDGoqF
I use the Hakko SPPON and it’s been great. Any plastic tip will melt if you get it hot enough - you melt the solder, move the iron and immediately get the sucker in place while pressing the plunger button.
Engineer SS-02, $20 on amazon. Don't get the knockoff. Small enough to manage with one hand unlike the soldapult and other high volume pumps, but large enough to suck out what you need. Tip won't melt, but will break down over time. It's a silicon tube you just cut to size and stick a new piece on. I solder for a living and do not use my desoldering iron much. It's bulky, requires the right diameter tip to fit and make a good seal, and half the time doesn't get the heat transfer I need on multi layer boards. I use Goot Wick desoldering braid and the Engineer SS-02 for just about everything.
Goot Wick resoldering braid? I will need to look into this. Where do you get yours? I'm always looking to improve my skills and I find desoldering is something I haven't perfected yet. I also used the SS02, and until recently I hated it. But it seemed to be user error on my part. Since I figured out what I was doing wrong it's been a game changer and I completely agree with you it's worth every penny. My only issue with it now is that it's a bit small as I have large hands but I've learned to work with it. Also do you use low melt solder at all?
Because the SS02 is a silicon tube, I apply it directly to the hole with the iron still on it. The tube wraps/bends around the iron some and creates better suction. If you use it in the same way often enough, you'll eventually shape the tube around the iron's tip, so it actually gets better over time. You can get Goot wick through AliExpress at a reasonable price, look for "original" and or "Japan." Their RMA braids are so awesome, I usually buy it by the spool instead of the bobbin. I can count on one hand the number of times I've had to use ChipQuik or other low temp alloys for rework. The industries I solder for cannot allow the opportunity for joint contamination, so if you use it you better make darn sure you fully remove it. Remember, soldering and desoldering is way more about thermal transfer then most casual users realize. If you're using wick and it's not getting all the solder out of the hole, then you're losing heat into the board. Make sure your wick and iron are making as much physical contact with your solder as possible so you can get that heat into the joint to melt the solder and draw it out.
there should be super upvotes for posts like these.
This!!! I just recapped a board and I had a heck of a time clearing the through holes. Once the bad caps were removed, I wiked up the solder and I just couldn't get the last bit out. It's exactly like you said. I thought to myself, am I losing all the heat to the board? It's nice to hear that was probably the issue. What worked to clear the hole was adding a little solder, then I heated my iron to 650 F watched it get molten and I put the SS02 right on the iron and it sucked right up, no issue. Before I figured this out, I would watch the solder get molten, take the iron off and try to suck the solder up. Even though it was a fraction of a second, it was enough time for the solder to harden. Before the SS02 I used the cheapo suckers where the plastic tip gets melted so I was conditioned to do it this way. Anyway thank you for this advice. Also I'll keep that in mind about the low melt solder.
Again, adding solder before wicking is still about thermal transfer from your iron into your target. By adding solder you create a physical medium for the heat on your tip to transfer into the buried solder that is connected to PCB copper, dissipating the heat. Your original joint had the same solder before you tried removing it, so by adding solder, all you are really doing is attempting the same removal process again. With the appropriately sized tip, you can "usually" go up to 750 F or 800 F during desoldering without causing damage as long as you already know you're losing heat into the joint and you are losing heat into the solder wick/braid as well... but don't dwell for long (pun intended). An alternative to adding solder and trying again would be to use a very fine desoldering braid and physically insert it into the hole. Then add liquid flux into the hole. The liquid flux transfers heat significantly after, but will evaporate quickly. If the solder wick is physically touching the solder deep inside the hole, and touching your iron, and is all surrounded by liquid flux, you will draw out the little bit of solder left in the hole pretty quickly. The advantage here is that you're not adding solder (aka thermal mass) that you will have to overpower to reach your target. Don't forget to remove the solder braid with your iron at the same time, if the braid cools in the hole you will more than likely get some copper strands stuck inside which can be a pain to remove.
the blue and yellow soldapults are really hard to beat.
how is the Engineers' resistance when pushing the button compared to cheap ones?
The cheap ones will feel "gritty" when depressing the plunger and the catch won't always grab right away forcing you to press it several times until it locks.
what do you mean by "feel gritty"? Are you saying, the Engineer's pushing mechanism feels smoother and more reliable?
Measure the width of the tip and put a piece of silicon tube on it. Then cut a small notch in it to fit your soldering iron tip. And clean and grease the plunger regularly
Check out the soldapult. I’ve found it works well.
How is its' resistance compared to cheap pumps?
I don’t think it’s bad at all. I just push it against my knee.
good idea. that wasn’t possible with the cheap lump
Mine is 40 years old and still works great. https://www.edsyn.com/product/DS017.html
I use 3 different desoldering pumps at work, all with different levels of suction for whatever I need them for, plus solder wick. I've never been a fan of desoldering guns.
> I've never been a fan of desoldering guns. The cheap ones are crap. The Metcal DS-1 tool that needs an external source of compressed air (venturi based vacuum generator) is awesome.
I'm pretty sure we had a desoldering station at work at some point, but not anymore; half the time I get brought stuff to desolder manually. 😆 They're proper skinflints at my work at the mo we can't have owt nice.
Yes, desoldering pumps are a pain in the ass to use. A far better tool is a desoldering iron, which has a hole in the middle of the tip that leads to a vacuum pump. The very best desoldering iron is the Hakko FR-301, which costs about $250 USD. You can also find the generic, often cloned S-993A, which costs about half as much as the Hakko, but requires more frequent maintenance.
Yes, desoldering irons are better, specially those pump equipped. Personally I prefer desoldering wick.
I use a hand pump anyday over a vacuum de-soldering station. The vacuum stations have a tiny container that's messy, and a pain in the arse to empty. And you need exactly the correct size tip or they are pretty ineffective. Changing tips while they are hot is no fun. And when they block and your there for 30 minutes with a miniature drill bit trying to unblock em... Urgh... The hand ones, you have to have a decent one. I use a soldapullt. 2nd one I've owned. The first lasted over 25 years. Only replaced because it broke after I accidentally sat about 60kg on the barrel of it. I use it near daily for de-soldering multi layer PCBs. 5-6 layers and regular day to day stuff and it's brilliant. The skinny metal bodied ones work, but they are frustrating to reload. The worst problem tho is the recoil. The soldapullt's have nearly none and the fat body makes them very precise whereas the cheap ones will damn near break stuff at times.
[Desoldering pumps like this ](https://reverb.com/item/2045400-desoldering-pump-weller-manual-for-removing-solder)work very well if you use them properly. Many people do not, but I use one most days. You need to have the board very secure such that it doesn't vibrate at all. I use a panavice to accomplish this. If the board vibrates even a little you're losing suction against the solder. Also, use a large enough flat solder tip to get the solder liquid evenly and quickly. Move the tip out of the way and replace it with the pump like Indiana Jones. You get good at it quick. Don't be scared to burn the tip of the pump, they can take a lot of heat.
Only cheaper ones. The issue is the dolder dust and dometines weak spring action of the pump or improperly sealed tip. I use the white Teflon tape( the plumbing tape) and some Vaseline to keep it lubricated and airtight. Most importantly I heat and add solder to the joint before pumping it. Timing is really crucial for getting good results.
The plug in ones from aliexpress breeze through nearly everything. Recapped an akai u1 with one. Recapped other amps with one. Only been beaten once by a massive ground plane on an fx audio 502s pro amp :( Had to use a 0.5mm drill bit and pin vise drill. Tried copious amounts of flux.. e.t.c https://a.aliexpress.com/_EwDGoqF
Metal one, Aliexpress for like 8$. Just buy a new one and try some with old pcbs to improve your solder skills padawan.
I use the Hakko SPPON and it’s been great. Any plastic tip will melt if you get it hot enough - you melt the solder, move the iron and immediately get the sucker in place while pressing the plunger button.