[R-390] desoldering stuff

[Tisha Hayes]

Oh, nothing heretical with not wanting to break off turrets or rotary
switch posts. If I am going to be running around with a soldering iron in a
chassis it is to remove components that need to be replaced, snip goes the
leads. Then I will figure out how to attach the new component.

My only grievance with quigs is when they look like cr_p with little solder
strays sticking up everywhere, mixed in with cold solder joints. A place
where you really do not have many other choices is on ring terminals inside
of an IF can and you are replacing a capacitor, on that same terminal there
will be that 40 AWG wire that will break if you look at it funny.

The art of soldering is really on the decline. Surface mount components are
nearly impossible to work on unless you have a hot air station. It is easy
to see where the skills are eroding with "kits" coming with pre-soldered
circuit boards and just being screws and plug in the connectors.

It once was point to point wiring where any respectable technician also
knew how to lace a wiring harness and properly place components from
terminal strips and tube sockets. Then it was PCB soldering where
multi-layer circuit boards were the state of the art. Wave soldering showed
up with surface mount components and ball mount with hot air and reflow.

Desoldering is an even rarer art. Now if a PCB does not work they just
scrap it as even spending 10 minutes on a tech bench to troubleshoot erases
any profit margin. To be competent in all of these areas requires
experience and practice to keep your skills up. Clearly there are folks on
this list who still do their own repairs and mods.
-- 
Ms. Tisha Hayes/ AA4HA

*Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into
despotisms.*