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skate323k137

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A lot of people newer to soldering often suffer with soldering braid, or using a 2 handed solution (soldering iron in one hand, sucker in the other). The old radio shack desoldering iron with built in bulb is OK, but doesn't have great suction.


Anyway, I've been using these for a while and have done entire 42 pin DIP replacements in 15 minutes or less. It's an amazing tool for the price if you need to remove neo geo ROMs, NES PPU, etc. Anything not surface mount or exceptionally fine pitch. Also works great for doing most recaps as well, aside from massive filter caps that need something higher wattage.


https://www.amazon.com/Velleman-VTDESOL3U-Vacuum-Desoldering-Heater/dp/B00B88FRME (this is not an affiliate link)


I also got lucky with mine and picked up some old tips from the "paladin solder scooter" which let me get 1mm and 1.5mm tips. Sadly these don't seem to be widely available but the stock tip is fine for the majority of through hole work. It's a great all in one tool that lets you pre-load it and operate it with one hand while positioning the board with the other (if necessary).
 
Do you have a link to a best cheap soldering tool And beginners soldering videos tutorials? I would like to learn how to, at least solder two wires together:) newbie time.
 
I picked up a Hakko FR-300 somewhat recently. I have to say I'm not terribly impressed with it. With the stock tip on (can't remember offhand what size it is), it regularly clogs up with solder. Although, after reading a comment to an Amazon review, maybe I'm using it wrong and not leaving the suction on for enough time to pull all the solder from the tip?

Anyone here own one?
 
I've got one of those - the only problem with it is getting replacement tips...

I just treated myself to a ss-02 solder sucker, needs emptying a lot or it clogs but it's so much better than the hard tipped solder suckers.
 
Do you have a link to a best cheap soldering tool And beginners soldering videos tutorials? I would like to learn how to, at least solder two wires together:) newbie time.
This is the best soldering tutorial I know of for beginners; if you understand the science happening your worksmanship will be much better than most. The link to my recommended tool is in the first post.

 
Also, I recently did a cap kit on an 1 slot MVS board. I had a lot of trouble pulling all the solder from the holes, especially ones that were ground points. I finally managed to get every hole clean by placing a regular soldering iron on one side of the hole and the desoldering iron on the other. Add solder to both sides, keep both irons on for a sec or two, then use the suction on the desoldering iron.

Is this common practice, or am I doing something wrong here as well?
 
I picked up a Hakko FR-300 somewhat recently. I have to say I'm not terribly impressed with it. With the stock tip on (can't remember offhand what size it is), it regularly clogs up with solder. Although, after reading a comment to an Amazon review, maybe I'm using it wrong and not leaving the suction on for enough time to pull all the solder from the tip?

Anyone here own one?
What I do with any desoldering tool is send through clean flux loaded solder every 10-20 connections. On ones with a vacuum pump like that, you should be holding it 2-3 seconds after you remove it from a connection. If it starts to clog, load up the tip with rosin flux solder, and then while it's still burning off the flux, suck it through. I do the same to clean my vellemans.
 
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Also, I recently did a cap kit on an 1 slot MVS board. I had a lot of trouble pulling all the solder from the holes, especially ones that were ground points. I finally managed to get every hole clean by placing a regular soldering iron on one side of the hole and the desoldering iron on the other. Add solder to both sides, keep both irons on for a sec or two, then use the suction on the desoldering iron.

Is this common practice, or am I doing something wrong here as well?
Nah I've had to do that for recaps if the board is through-hole plated. It's a pain but it works like a charm. Ground traces or other large traces/components act like heat syncs so getting enough thermal mass presents a challenge.
 
Thanks for the tip, ordered one immediately, cause I can't justify getting a Hakko or even a knock off Hakko from China. As for de-soldering braid, come closer and I'll let you in on the best kept secret in the art of de-soldering..

SWRosinSD_5Fam.jpg

This stuff is magic!
 
I picked up a Hakko FR-300 somewhat recently. I have to say I'm not terribly impressed with it. With the stock tip on (can't remember offhand what size it is), it regularly clogs up with solder. Although, after reading a comment to an Amazon review, maybe I'm using it wrong and not leaving the suction on for enough time to pull all the solder from the tip?

Anyone here own one?
I've had one for a year and love it. I use it all the time and have only had a handful of clogs. Definitely run the pump an extra second to let it finish pulling the solder. Having a clean filter is important too-they're cheap on EBay.
 
I have a FR-300 that I bought secondhand and it worked great for a while, but now the pump seems to be failing. I probably need to take it fully apart to diagnose what's up.

Different size tips are definitely recommended for best results, depending on what you're working with.
 
I use a ZD-917 soldering/desoldering station and love it, it does both jobs perfectly.

When desoldering the best thing you can do is flow new solder onto the old stuff first as this will make life much easier

The desoldering guns will block up easily if you don't push the cleaning spike (this is the best name I can come up with for it) after you've done some desoldering before turning it off

I have found a 0.8mm tip most effective on arcade boards :)
 
I use an Aoyue 474A++. It doesn't qualify as cheap, except in comparison to higher end stations. I've probably pulled a thousand caps and a few dozen chips with ease in the year that I've had it. It uses Hakko's metal and ceramic filters.
looking to get one of these as well due to good reviews.
One point of critisism I find in some reviews is the lack of a 0,8mm tip.
Is the 1,0mm small enough for common through hole components on arcade pcb's?
Or are smaller tips available?
 
I think that I've pretty much had the medium or small size tip on it (can't remember which) permanently since buying it, with just a few exceptions for thick joints. That has worked for all of the thousands of caps and hundreds of chips that I've pulled on arcade boards and consoles.

Just make sure to replace its filters with Hakko's for the better results:
Hakko Small Ceramic Filter: A1009
Hakko Spring Filter: A1030 (so much easier to clean than Aoyue's)

And add this to it:
Hakko Large Ceramic Filter: A1033 (leave the sponge filter in to hold this in place)
 
Cool, thanks!
Think I'll order it this week together with a decent soldering station like the Aoyue 3210 or similar :)
 
A bit more expensive, but how would you rate a Hakko 888D against a Aoyua 3210?
 
Isn't the FX888D a soldering iron not a desoldering tool? Pretty sure the desoldering gun is an FR300 and the older now discontinued unit was an 808

As a soldering iron the FX888D is great
 
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