Desoldering Without Desoldering Tools

[Rand alThor]

Hi, y'all  ! I just bought My first Soldering Iron today ( )and I'm Planning on doing some desoldering of components from salvaged boards. However, Walmart didn't have a desoldering pump/braid. So I was wondering if I could just have the solder drip into an aluminum foil pan or something like that. Also, "Electronics for dummies" talked about cleaning the iron with a wet sponge. Would it be possible to wipe the component leads on a wet sponge? Thanks.

[R.O.B. 2.0]

I just got my soldering iron yesturday also  . I was sort of wondering the same thing. BTW my iron is 30W.
I don't think that anyone should wipe capacitators on a wet sponge because there might still be current left in them.

[Rand alThor]

Congratulations! (This is were I would send you a modified baby card if I had one  . "It's a soldering Iron!", anyone? )

I believe mine is 25W. *I go look and return 30 seconds later with confirmation*.

I don't think that anyone should wipe capacitators on a wet sponge because there might still be current left in them.

Yeah, and since the multimeter that I also bought yesterday's fuse blew as I was playing with it  , I don't think I can try to test the voltage/ charge with it. But since I have to do my soldering on a plastic table in the garage ("It's a fire hazard"--Mom), I'm having grave doubts about having it drip into a pan or something. Hmmm... maybe a pan on a cooling rack... .

Any suggestions, anyone?

Thanks,

The Dragon

[Asellith]

Well you can always use the heat and smack method. Just heat the solder up and smack it on the table to drop the solder off. This however is a really bad idea. You really need a pump or some braid. Braid is easiest to learn but a pump works good for larger stuff. Desoldering older pcbs can be a pain as well specially without a temp controlled iron. The silkscreen and the traces tend to come up really easy. Makes getting a component off really hard sometimes.

You could clean the freshly desoldered components with a sponge to make the contacts nice and clean but using a sponge while it is in the board would not be a good idea.

[Rand alThor]

But wouldn't the heat and smack method cause the table to melt? I think (by look and feel) that it is HDPE, and according to another thread, its melting point is ~250^oF. And my iron gets up to 700. Any suggestions on how to avoid table disintegration?

[Asellith]

The worst you would get would be pot marks in the plastic from the hot solder. You heat the solder till it melts then remove the heat and tap (or smack) the board on the table. The solder falls off and hits the table. It will most likely be almost a solid by the time it hits the table. Solder cools down fast. If you put some aluminum foil down where you do it you will not have to worry about anything. The solder will drop off and splat then solidify making some cool patterns at times.

[Rand alThor]

Awesome!!! So solder cools down that fast, huh? So if I make an aluminum foil pan, and i accidentally touch it, it won't burn me, right?

[Rand alThor]

Well, I tried the heat and smack method, but I either can't get it hot enough because it's cooling too fast, or I'm a pcb-to-table-disfuncional  .

[bens]

Just draw most of the solder off the components with your iron and wipe the iron on a damp sponge.

[awally88]

Just get someone to give you hand, one of you heat the parts and the other pry them slowly off with a pair of pliers.  With a bit of clever manoeuvring you can get most stuff off.

[Rand alThor]

Well, I did try to kinda pull it off , but not exactly with pliers....

(try bare fingers )

BTW Do any of you think one of those "third hand" thingys with the magnifying glass are any use in a non-soldering situation? Cause I have to solder in a different room than my workbench, per se...

[Rand alThor]

Well, I think I came up with a technique of my own. It works really well with little boards, but not so well with heavy boards. It involves using "needlenose" pliers. They don't really have to be needlenosed, but they have to be somewhat thin. You take the pliers and hold the component in your hand. You tip the board so it's sideways, but tipped slightly so the solder side faces the ground slightly. you thenaply the iron and kinda shake/twist/yank/pull the component out of it's socket. Like I said, it does work pretty well.

[Admin]

I'd suggest just buying new components instead of salvaging them (with the exception of very expensive parts).

Most components cost like 10 cents maximum, 5 cents average. If you buy it online, you can get any component you want, undamaged - neither is possible with salvaging. Shipping is another ~$6, in exchange for hours of your time trying to salvage stuff.

BTW Do any of you think one of those "third hand" thingys with the magnifying glass are any use in a non-soldering situation?

I have some, but never use them. They just don't work very well for me whenever I try. Getting a friend/relative to help is much better . . .

[krich]

I stole my wife's heat gun she uses for crafts.  It works like a charm.  Just heat up a section of the board on the solder side, then rap it on the table and tons of components fall out.  The down side is that many get solder splashed on them, so you have to clean them up before using them.  The heat gun is also quite useful for removing surface mount chips, when you get to that point.

For both through the hole and surface mount components, you'll need to be careful not to overheat them.  This will damage the components and will end up wasting your time either by wasted salvage time or by malfunctioning in a circuit at a later date.

[BANE]

I use a de-soldering bulb from RadioShack.  I have had a lot of good luck with it.

Bane

[polar bear6]

i have one of them heat guns too, they cost alot but they sure desolder good lol.
if i can give you a hint, dont try to save money everywhere, i was (and still am) like that in the start and its real annoying that you cant make something because you dont want to buy a component when you can find it in the junkpilething under your desk, and you spend like 5 hours looking for it and when you find it you destroy it, and then start all over again.

[BANE]

if i can give you a hint, dont try to save money everywhere, i was (and still am) like that in the start and its real annoying that you cant make something because you dont want to buy a component when you can find it in the junkpilething under your desk, and you spend like 5 hours looking for it and when you find it you destroy it, and then start all over again.

I couldn't agree more, I have an entire box full of electronics and componets that i've salvaged, but the I tend to find myself in the Digikey catalog a bit more than in that box . 

Bane

[TrickyNekro]

What ever you salvage try to avoid power supplies of various devices like satellite receivers dvd players and such...

Components from such devices seem to be override especially capacitors and diodes...
Anyways they are so cheap I don't think there is any point in salvaging but just learning how to de-solder...

But I sometimes get some very nice really tiny capacitors for me max232 and such... (example: portable cd players - walkman)
so it's not that waste...

My advice, if it's the first time soldering.... get an old board start de-soldering and then solder the components back... just to learn


Lefteris

[Rand alThor]

Well, we went out of town for a trip and I finnally got to go to a (much bigger) Radioshack, spent like two hours there, and at the end, I knew the store better then the workers did and bought one of those bulb thingys too. BTW, do they always smell like that? 

[airman00]

Well, we went out of town for a trip and I finnally got to go to a (much bigger) Radioshack, spent like two hours there, and at the end, I knew the store better then the workers did and bought one of those bulb thingys too. BTW, do they always smell like that? 

the workers or the bulb? lol

I hate radioshack , they are terribly overpriced .

[Trumpkin]

I hate radioshack , they are terribly overpriced .

you said it. Rand alThor, by bulb thingys do you mean LED?

[airman00]

I hate radioshack , they are terribly overpriced .

you said it. Rand alThor, by bulb thingys do you mean LED?

i think he meant those desoldering bulbs

[Trumpkin]

i think he meant those desoldering bulbs

yeah, those do smell funky. 

[Rand alThor]

i think he meant those desoldering bulbs

You are absolutly right, airman.

Hey! How did you take a picture of my desoldering pump?

[airman00]

Hey! How did you take a picture of my desoldering pump?

got robots with cameras everywhere