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What's your favorite through-hole desoldering tool?

scottiebabe

I have a $5 solder sucker that is nothing fancy for desoldering through hole components. For occasional use it works well enough I suppose.

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There appears to be a number of "fancier" solder suckers on the market like this made in japan model:

image

There are also some inexpensive vacuum desoldering tools, like:

image

I don't know if it is total junk or a diamond in the rough...

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  • The "fancy" Japanese model is definitely the nicest manual solder sucker I have ever used. The build quality is great. And when it works, it works well. However.

    I cannot stand to use it.

    The size is relatively small. And I have an exceptionally hard time actuating the button because of the tool's small size and button placement. I end up with this super-awkward handhold so that my finger or thumb can hit the button. So awkward I can NOT usually position it over the joint as needed.

    I have watched others use it with no issue. So it is entirely a James problem. But I just cannot figure out how a way to hold and use it. This is a shame, because as I said, the build quality is an order of magnitude better than the cheap plastic ones.

    Depending on what I am doing, one option is to use low-temperature Bismuth-based solder. This allows me to remove through-hole components without fully removing all of the solder. Then once the part is out, I can clean it up with a sucker or de-soldering braid.

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  • The "fancy" Japanese model is definitely the nicest manual solder sucker I have ever used. The build quality is great. And when it works, it works well. However.

    I cannot stand to use it.

    The size is relatively small. And I have an exceptionally hard time actuating the button because of the tool's small size and button placement. I end up with this super-awkward handhold so that my finger or thumb can hit the button. So awkward I can NOT usually position it over the joint as needed.

    I have watched others use it with no issue. So it is entirely a James problem. But I just cannot figure out how a way to hold and use it. This is a shame, because as I said, the build quality is an order of magnitude better than the cheap plastic ones.

    Depending on what I am doing, one option is to use low-temperature Bismuth-based solder. This allows me to remove through-hole components without fully removing all of the solder. Then once the part is out, I can clean it up with a sucker or de-soldering braid.

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  • in reply to baldengineer

    Thanks for sharing your experience with the "fancy" sucker. 

    I think I really should add some of this low-temp solder to my kit. Is there a big difference between the chipquick alloy and bismuth solder?

    image image

  • in reply to baldengineer

    ChipQuik is a good option to keep from applying to much heat and keeping the area clean, but it definitely needs to be removed before making a new joint with higher temperature solder.

  • in reply to scottiebabe

    Hi,

    I think they're the same thing, or perhaps there is not a very significant difference (but I'm not sure, since the ChipQuik formulation is not advertised). 

    Incidentally, the bismuth solder is also available in paste form, so that's another option (at least for me where I am, it was cheaper to buy more paste than the solder wire. Also, not really related, but the paste may come in handy for general prototype soldering of difficult components, i.e. use it as if it were normal solder paste, but just happens to melt at a lower temperature. No good for most production, but it might get one out of some difficulties occasionally. That's not as easy with the solder wire form, because it's a thick wire (the thinner bismuth wire is expensive here).Not an issue for desoldering of course. I still have issues with some components however, because some component leads are almost exactly the same diameter as the through-hole, so it's difficult to make the solders mix there. But it was awesome for removing SOIC chips which is yet another moot point since the discussion's supposed to be through-hole! : )

  • in reply to scottiebabe

    “Low-temp solder” comes in (at least) two alloys. One is Bismuth-based and the other is Indium. I have a lot more experience with Bismuth. If you’re re-working a SnPb board, the Lead(Pb) will drop the Bismuth-alloy’s melting point down as low as 100C. 

    This is great for removal, but could be a potential issue in the future. So it is recommended to clean the Bismuth as best as possible before re-soldering (with SnPb.)

    Indium seems to have an opposite effect. The couple of times I tried to use Indium-alloy, I had a heck of a time getting SnPb to melt. (With the Bismuth-alloy, I’ve had 20-pin DIPs fall out of the board without me pushing!) The people watching use it said I didn’t remove enough of the SnPb to make the Indium-alloy effective.

    So, my suggest is stick to the Bismuth-based alloy.

    ChipQuik sells both. They should have a datasheet on their site to say which is which. (Though, I think those SMD removal kits are usually the Bismuth one.)