im using a radio shack 30 watt soldering iron and copper braid... i'm having trouble desoldering!! anyway... anyone have good tips out there? is 30 watt too cold?? i've been practicing on junk boards.. but the ecu is not going so easy...

 

30 is enough, i used the same thing. It's just a bitch to have it soldered on both sides of the board. A solder sucker might help, it may draw all the solder out from both sides. Keep it up, you'll get it.

 

Try soldering all of the pads first. It will displace the conformal coating and allow the solder to flow into the wick.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jim Truett &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Try soldering all of the pads first. It will displace the conformal coating and allow the solder to flow into the wick.</TD></TR></TABLE>

You mean to apply solder to the holes that I am desoldering?

 

Boards have a clear conformal coating (typically polyurethane) on them for insulation and FOD (foreign object damage) protection. You first have to scrape a little of it clear or "burn" thru it.

A good technique using rosin core solder is to put the soldering iron to the joint, add a little new solder (you are really trying to get the flux in there that is in the solder core) then immediately put the copper wick onto the joint. Adding the new solder and flux will help the heat transfer, and the flux will aid the ability of the solder to flow. You should put the wick over the solder joint, and the soldering iron on top of the wick. It will suck up the solder 1,2,3.

I do it a little differently, but then again I have a gallon of Kestler 185 RMA flux, a Metcal SP440 vacuum desoldering station and an Metcal SP200 Soldering station on my bench... Thats about a kilobuck of soldering equipment... not very practical for a one time user.

I like Kester 44 solder BTW for work like you are doing.

I buy all my soldering products from http://www.wassco.com/

 

thanks for the reply guys... i'll do the technique you have suggested. it does make kinda sense... thanks.