de-soldering / soldering techniques

[congobongo]

OK, I'm lost when it comes to this stuff. I have a soldering kit I bought at RadioShack and I' soldered a couple AV cables but when it comes to taking a component off of a board and putting a new one on, I'm lost. Is there any resources online for basic soldering techniques? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[xertcev]

Here's a good one...

http://www.starbase74.com/mame/solderframe.htm

[congobongo]

Nice one, thanks.

[omnedon]

For "fine" work I've found I prefer desoldering braid, to bulbs, or other suction methods of desoldering. I've found for removing IC's, like in a CV 'auto level select' repair, that the braid was neater, and seemed to usually get all of the solder out. That's important, as one does not want to put undue stress on the board when pulling out the faulty IC.

Bulbs and suction seem fine for bigger jobs. Using braid only can get expensive if it's all you use. Sometimes bulb first, then braid is a way to conserve the braid.

[Captain Wrong]

Great link! (Gives me an idea for a new thread!)

I'm working on resoting an old Sansui receiver and it looks like I may need to replace a transistor. I'm pretty rusty on soildering, so this link is a good catch up!

[Goblin]

As mentioned earlier, make sure you get the desoldering braid, otherwise known as solder wick. If you are working on fine pitch devices or surface mount devices, use the real thin stuff. I have also found the desoldering irons with the ball helpful, particularly when removing thru-hole parts. Use the desoldering iron to get most of the solder and then touch up with the wick.

If you are removing parts it also sometimes handy to have 2 irons on at a time. One on each side allows you to quickly lift the device in question.

Also one last word of advice is to choose your tools wisely. Pick an iron with an appropriate sized tip. Typically the $10 irons at RS had a tip the size of a screw driver, you will never get anything done with that. There isn't any need to drop $100+ on an iron yet, but $40 will get you a nice entry level Weller with adjustable temperature control.