Cursitor Doom wrote:
Hi all,

Anyone got any tips on how to avoid the unpleasant situation where you
try to de-solder a part on an elderly board and end up removing more than
just component leads? Most of the stuff I work on is at *least* 25 years
old and things start to get fragile.

Add fresh solder and liquid flux, then solder suck or use braid.

old solder has oxides and crap on it and is a poor heat conductor, so you
you can end up burning the pads off the board if you fight with it too
long. Cutting Leads off the part can help too if they were wedged into the
holes.