On Jul 2, 6:28*am, "N_Cook" wrote:
I find desolder braid or vacuum suckers only work well enough on flat pcb
pads not bulbous solder and wire/s around tags of older stuff.

Anyone have improvements or alternatives to the technique I use.
Firstly assuming that the component lead length is not enough to cut and
re-use further along the wire. So definitely a matter of desoldering and
re-using *what is there, maybe more than one wire , all quite properly,
looped through the tag before the original soldering.

The first thing I do is fix some small (ratchet clamping) medical artery
forceps / angler's hook remover tool/s on the exposed bit of the metal of
the wire/s up close to the tag to act as heatsinks to avoid melting the
sleeving , due to prolonged solder-iron heating of the tag. Then with what I
call a needle-probe, a large sewing needle, set into wooden dowel handle, I
explore while melting the solder blob and unhook the "free" end of the
wire/s and then pull through using the forceps.

--
Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list onhttp://home..graffiti.net/diverse:graffiti.net/

Generally, one should not need the 'heat sinks' as the insulation
should be able to stand the heat of soldering the terminal [tag] in
the first place. Use of the heat sinks can often render effective
heating of the joint impossible because they draw off too much heat
from the joint! It is very important to have a soldering iron with an
adequate reservoir of heat to be able to heat the tag and connected
wires very quickly, but at the same time not too hot. I use a 7/32"
chisel tip at 700 degrees. I apply a small dab of fresh solder to make
good thermal contact and the instant the solder on the tag melts, use
a spring type solder sucker to clear the bulk of the solder from the
joint and, as it cools, wiggle the wire of interest to form the cold
joint. A probe, fine cutters and long nose pliers will usually remove
the wire of interest, even if it means unwinding several other to
access it. The old solders are usually so soft that it is often
possible to simply tear the wires out of the joint cold once the bulk
of the solder is removed. Always try and clear the joint in a single
application of heat and solder sucker since repeated or prolonged
heating will quickly do serious damage to the tag insulator and erode
the base metals of the tag and connected wires.

Neil S.