Recently I have needed to recap a few motherboards (not usually an
economic exercise - but these were custom form factor jobbies where
replacements are not readily available), and they were a right PITA to
work on. Obviously multilayer, and since the caps are on the power
regulation sections, probably connected to fairly heavy power plane
traces in the board. Component removal was very difficult - often taking
excessive time for the joint to reflow. Tight pins in close holes with a
small annulus. However cleaning the holes for reuse proved impossible
with any of my normal irons. In the end I had to resort to using a hot
air paint stripper with small nozzle on the end to get enough heat into
the area to be able to suck the holes clear!

I was wondering what suggestions those of you who do this daily had to
offer?



We had a similar problem on a Harris VHF/FM broadcast transmitter where
they recommend you break the cap off and solder to the wires that are
left behind;!..

This wasn't to do with cleaning out the holes just a lorra dismantling
to get to the other side of that board. Prolly not too practical on
Motherboards with very high component densities, but as you say a real
PITA to clear the holes..

Just bought a new Gigabyte board the other day boasts "solid" Electro
caps;!...
--
Tony Sayer