Dave wrote:

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.

My experience with solder sucking bulbs and plungers has been a lot
worse than with braid, except when the joint had a huge amount of
solder, and even then I sometimes had to remove the final traces of
solder by using braid

I once used braid that was over 1/8" wide, and it was terrible because
it absorbed too much heat. 0.06" - 0.08" works best for me. I also
avoid braid that's tarnished (won't stick to solder) or coarse (not
enough surface area, probably low quality as well), and I keep the
soldering iron tip really clean and cut off used braid right away
because dangling braid just draws heat away from the joint. I cut it
even if it isn't full of solder because its flux has been ruined by the
heat, keeping it from stick to solder.

When solder won't melt into the braid, I add more solder to the joint
because it seems that factory solder has a higher melting point or some
kind of film over it.

I don't understand why 45W isn't enough heat, but some irons seem to
deliver more heat to their tips than others of the same watt rating do,
or they get weak with age. 35W has been enough for me with
single-layer boards, except on large copper areas, and 45W should be
able to do 2-layer boards or even the smaller components on multilayer
boards, even when the lead connects to the internal ground or voltage
plane (I normally use 50W).