What's your favorite through-hole desoldering tool?

I use this desoldering pump.

Here is an example of how I tried to solder the VGA connector. First, I had to tin the contacts with low-temperature solder and then use a desoldering pump.

In some places, for some reason, it was not possible to remove the solder and therefore I had to use a soldering dryer. But in principle, for its price, this desoldering pump copes with its task.

How am I the last person to hear about these heated suckers... That's wonderful! Thanks for sharing. Desoldering anything out of a PC motherboard is very challenging with all the thermal mass of the internal ground planes, I'm amazed you were able to get the connector out!

Thanks again for sharing your technique.

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.

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! : )

“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.)

I was formally trained on a PACE system but for my limited home workshop projects the blue tube that sucks (not an MS product) has a spot on the bench.

scottiebabe said:

I wish the braid spool was heat resistant perhaps other suppliers are:

 scottiebabe The Xuron WickGun Desoldering Braid Dispensers are the best you can get. I managed to find four guns and a lot of cassettes a long time ago.

scottiebabe Shop air powered Weller WDD80V and DSV80.

I followed the general progression described by others.

I used an older Ebay weller station (with on-board vacuum pump). It worked long enough that parts were not available when it finally died.  It worked so nice I payed the money for a new one, for hobby use.

I pick old solder out of the filter cartridges until the fiber pad disintegrates.  I also save the cardboard tube to recycle with my padding, when I finally use up the current supply of filters.

It can be hard to hit the temperature sweet-spot with production no-lead solder.

Nice thing about the DSV80; it uses a reusable glass solder collection chamber.