Engineer wrote in message
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On Jul 2, 1:38 pm, "N_Cook" wrote:
Engineer wrote in message

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On Jul 2, 9:28 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/

On vintage gear I use a spring loaded solder sucker plus a sharp
aluminum (aluminium) probe (like the OP's needle probe - solder won't
stick to it.) Usefully, one end has a 1 mm slot about 3 mm deep with
sharp points on each side. This allows a controlled rotational
leverage to unhook those "mechanically anchored" wires that are such a
pain to get off.
As other posters have said, the addition of a little new solder can
give a better heat transfer from the "iron" and assist flow in the old
joint.
Cheers,
Roger

Aluminium ? I can't beleive that is strong enough.
Sewing needles are stainless steel which is fine with lead/tin solder but
interestingly, for diagnosis purposes, lead-free solder will adhere to
stainless steel, requiring more than just a fingernail to scrape it off,
more likely requiring pliers of some sort.

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

- Show quoted text -

That was my first thought but it's not broken yet, and it's had a few
tough twists over the years! Perhaps it's an alloy. It came with my
old Weller solder gun over 25 years ago, both still going strong.
I only use tin/lead solder so the stainless sewing needle is a good
idea (but you don't get that "slot twist".) I'll ask my wife for one,
she's from Southsea (not far from you), so pretty resourceful!
Cheers,
Roger
(near Toronto, Canada)


In UK size terms , use a darning needle somewhere between size 5 and 12.
Drill an undersize hole in the dowel, insert with glue and bind the end of
the wood tightly with wire to reinforce against splitting/opening up.

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