[Elecraft] Good deals on vacuum desoldering equipment?

Tue May 13 20:54:00 2003

Scott, after swearing way too often during attempted use of desoldering
braid and at my Radio Shack desoldering tool with rubber bulb attached
which sometimes (but not often)worked, I finally sprang for a Hakko 808.
It looks like a soldering gun with a vacuum pump built in. You heat the
pad, press the button, the pump pumps briefly and the solder is just
simply gone . . . completely.  I highly recommend it.  I paid $175.00
and I think it's worth every penny.

Bruce - W8FU

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Scott T Emery
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2003 2:07 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Elecraft] Good deals on vacuum desoldering equipment?

	Desoldering is a fact of life for me. I am happy to say that
when
I initially built the kit I had maybe a dozen desoldering jobs in the
process,
either to correct errors or just following instructions. As I add things
to
my K2, especially when I upgrade it from A to B (budget constraints and 
priorities have delayed that inevitability), I will do a considerable
amount
of desoldering.

	Soldering is a dangerous activity. Health aside, one is applying
heat to a valuable PC board and valuable chips and introducing the
possibility
of damage from Electrostatic Discharge.  Desoldering brings up all of
the
same issues, and may add some mechanical stress at these elevated
temperatures.

	I have a vacuum desoldering station which is basically a little
glass tube with a teflon tip attached to a vacuum pump which was given
to me.  It is the neatest thing since sliced bread, even if it does
require
frequent cleaning.  Since I have had the chance to use one of these
things
in addition to some of the other desoldering systems out there, I always
recommend it highly.   But I imagine that it is a relatively expensive
piece of gear (relative to a good soldering iron, solder, nips, etc.).

	I have seen earlier discussions of "all in one" desoldering
stations,
where the soldering iron and the vaccum pump are an integrated unit. The
trade-off between convenience and complication seems to favor
complication.

	There are some excellent resources for the K2 builder on the
elecraft web site. Questions about soldering stations, solder, tools and
specific useful techniques are answered there. I don't see a discussion
of desoldering at various price points.

1) What is the current thought on the best desoldering practice. (i.e.
am I
	way off in my vacuum desoldering craze)

2) What is the best value in a vacuum style desoldering station if one
	insists on getting one (mine will break down eventually).

Scott Emery
AD6RY
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