Desoldering Station that actually works???

[TheCrunchGuy]

Hey Modders and Tinkerers. I bought a YiHua 948 Solder/DeSolder workstation and I'm highly disappointed in this thing. Both the regular soldering iron and the desoldering gun heat up great however the pump or "sucking" action is lame and barely works. What is anyone else using or can recommend that is proven to work?

 

[jwin615]

There's a certain skill to using a desoldering pump.
First, make sure the factory seals are good. You may need some Teflon tape or vacuum grease to get it tight.
It may just be junk but I'd make sure you have the technique down. You don't get as much violent suck as a good solder sucker but if the system is sealed, it should work decent. A good seal will provide a vacuum buildup between cycles. A poor seal will struggle to ever clear a hole.
Or maybe it's just Chinese junk. I've used a similar one before and it was hit or miss.

The way I was tought was to flux, drop the iron around the component, do a quick 360 spin around the lead to both:
-know the component is freed
-work flux into the old solder
Then, press into the pcb with the iron centered over the hole/pad to achieve a good seal before vacuuming.

If you want a *good* station, get a PACE.
Also, keep some needle gauges or guitar string scrap around to clear the tube occasionally and don't be lazy with emptying the canister or swapping the inline airfilter

 

[Passinwind]

Still for sale or trade, I guess: https://forum.pedalpcb.com/threads/pace-st115-desoldering-station.20835/

Works great for some through hole things, but I rarely use many TH parts beyond film caps and board mounted pots these days. A more modern PACE station would be my call if I needed a day to day solution, but $$$.

 

[PapaBear]

I just ordered the Hakko desoldering gun last week for $210. Haven't gotten it yet but I've never heard bad things about Hakko

I have one and I like it, just keep your nozzle tinned like your iron and it'll do a good job

 

[pettert]

I just ordered the Hakko desoldering gun last week for $210. Haven't gotten it yet but I've never heard bad things about Hakko

Where? $400 here (Eu).

 

[Erik S]

@TheCrunchGuy - I have basically the same Yihua one (mine just doesn't have the soldering iron), and I love it. It works great.

Have you tried taking it apart/ troubleshooting the suction issue? Might be worth a little investigation.

 

[jimilee]

Solder sucker like the one @PedalPCB sells. It’s magic.

 

[chongmagic]

I use this one.

 

[Alan W]

I just ordered the Hakko desoldering gun last week for $210. Haven't gotten it yet but I've never heard bad things about Hakko

That’s what I was going to post. I almost go out of my way not to use it, but when I finally concede, it makes it easy. I ended up getting several of the different sized tips for it; the longer ones are a little less effective, but on a tighter board are a good bit easier to get in place.

That’s a great price; I don’t remember what I paid (a few years back) but I think it was at least that, probably more.

 

[PapaBear]

I use this one.

View attachment 102646

That's the one I have; I bought it when I was modding a lot of pedals.

 

[fontoponto]

I bought the cheapest sucker I found on amazon. One of those non fancy desoldering pumps with a cord on them. After a few tries I was able to desolder really fast. Until the nozzle broke when I was almost finished with a dense packed pcb. Then I learned that it is totally normal but did not agree with how fast it happened. And boy this thing got hot but it worked, with some more sucking even on the fat pot leads. I returned it… But if you compare the price of replacement nozzles to a full station then you might not justify to buy a station.