"Dave" wrote in message
newspVzf.80723$m05.78222@clgrps12...

"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...

All of the advice given so far regarding the fault, is good stuff. As far
as
solder wick / solder sucker / desoldering stations go, it's horses for
courses. Contrary to what one of the posters said about solder wick "
sucking " ( or not ... ), in my experience, this is only the case when
you
either buy cheap, or use the wrong size for the job. Buying cheap at
radio
rallies, will just get you old stock, where the flux has gone off, and
then,
it doesn't suck. Using a solder wick with too big a size, with an iron
that's too small tip wise, or power wise, results in insufficient heat
transfer to the joint, and then it doesn't suck.

Well, my desolder braid is cheap and old, and PERHAPS a bit too thick for
the job, but it's worked well recently on similar-sized joints using the
same iron.


A solder sucker is very good for medium sized joints, but there is a real
technique to using one well, and if you use it on a ' poor ' quality
board,
it will readily suck the print off as well as the solder. There is a real
balance between getting enough heat into the joint to melt the solder to
a
point where it will stay molten enough to be sucked cleanly off the
board,
and not destroying the bonding between the copper and the substrate.

If you do get yourself a solder sucker, get a good one for which all
parts
are available - nozzle, neoprene suction washer, circlip ( you'll lose it
! ) etc. Practice a lot on a scrap board to get the heat / time thing
right.
Clean it out regularly, and don't buy cheap !!

Thanks for the advice, have not used one before. Unfortunately where I
live
there are very few stores which sell electronic parts and buying one off
of
the internet generally costs twice as much when you get done with shipping
and taxes and the like.


This is true. I used to use solder wick years ago, and it wasn't very good,
so I stuck to a solder sucker. Then, a few years ago, huge amounts started
appearing at rallies for like 1 UKP per reel, so I bought loads, as did
friends. It was crap. I then read an article in my national ham radio
journal about this, and it said that the reason that the stuff didn't work
was because even though it was housed in a basically airtight container,
over several years of storage, the oxygen in the atmosphere reacted with the
powder flux that it's impregnated with, and destroyed its fluxing
characteristics. Hence the reason that it had been dumped cheap on the
amateur market, as it was of no commercial value at all.

Soon after this disappointing experience, I had occasion to be in a fellow
professional's workshop, and saw him using some solder wick made by "
Multicore ", and was amazed at its efficacy, so I immediately ordered a
reel, and now always have some at the ready. It's not cheap at 30 UKP for a
30m reel ( about $48 ) but it lasts a long time. I also use a Weller vacuum
desoldering station, but that's too expensive for amateur use, unless one
can be picked up cheap on e-Bay.

Arfa