On Sep 21, 4:59*pm, "tm" wrote:
wrote in message

...



On Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:52:38 -0700 (PDT), Michael
wrote:

Hello,

I've got a couple of Intel boards (D865PERL) that have one bad
electrolytic capacitor each. *One board stopped working; the other
still works, but has a bulging cap close to the CPU area. *(Pics not
yet available.)

Is desoldering these caps straightforward? *Any special precautions
multi-layered PCB traces? *Any special gotchas to keep in mind
when ordering replacement caps from say Mouser?

Thanks,

Michael

I've done this on motherboards; it's tedious, but practical. *The
suggestions from others are good. *Here's a few things I discovered.

While vacuum desoldering tools work well, you have to heat the board
to the point where the solder on the ground lead melts all the way
through the board. *The vacuum desoldering tools aren't real efficient
at transfereing heat unless you add a little solder or flux to each
lead you are going to unsolder.

The technique I settled on was to use a 40 watt soldering iron with a
chisel tip. *Heat up one leg, add a dab of Chip-Quik, rock the cap
toward the opposite side. *Heat up the other leg, add Chip-Quik, rock
cap to other side. *Repeat with the heating and rocking until the cap
drops out. *While it's still hot, push an iron or stanless steel
needle through the hole (I use a dissecting pick I got in the '60's).
Remove the pick when the solder has cooled; reheat the other hole and
use the needle.

Make sure you keep a chart identifying which cap goes where. *Patience
is necessary. *Make sure you clean up all stray solder.

PlainBill

Good advise and also make sure you take note of the polarity.


Yes... I was having visions of getting the cap out then wondering,
which way is negative... :-D

Thanks y'all

Michael