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Japanese 'Engineered' Solder Sucker

I can clearly recall that over the last 15 years I've gone from the traditional desoldering bulb (compact but plugs easily), to the Radio Shack desoldering iron (cumbersome), to a clone of the OP's desoldering pen (worked great but DAMN that recoil), to a Hakko 808 clone (AMAZING on anything up to two layers, then it becomes more of a trace scratcher than a desoldering tool and GOD DAMN those heating elements suck) and now I am using one of the previously mentioned SoldaPullt spring loaded suckers for general use and a much older Weller/Ungar 4024 series station for multi-layer boards.
 
I must confess to being surprised no one has come up with a consistently good desoldering tool.

So far this Japanese one is ok. I have had to desolder the four tvt boards I made. It doesn't get everything and easily plugs itself.. but when you get it just right it clears it all out of there.
 
They can be had for the right price. I've thought about building one out of a small vacuum cleaner.
 
I agree. I used the cheapy Ratio Shack Soldapullt-alike an awful lot with excellent results over the years (at various times I had that at work and the real deal at home and vice versa).
 
A lot of it is technique. I've done a lot of satisfactory work with very cheap tools.

Guess I'm fortunate to work for a company that uses digital rework stations (and they don't mind you working on something personal after-hours).

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The problem with having one at home would be the high initial cost and the added cost of consumables (filters, tips, etc). But as mentioned, technique (and practice) is a lot of it. You can get much done with a standard solder-sucker, or be completely useless with a high-end tool.
 
Lay the last 1/8" or 1/4" of braid over the pad and apply the solder iron tip over that. The heat conducts quickly through the copper braid and will wick up all the solder. On small pads it's much easier to avoid delaminating the pad from overheating, or excess sucker vacuum.

If there's a lot of solder, either use a sucker to start with then finish with the braid, or start the braid at about 1/2" from the end and slowly pull it over the pad as it fills up.

I've been using the braid for years. It's so much easier and cleaner than any kind of sucker I've used. What I do is warm it up and dip it in flux. It soaks up the solder like a sponge.
 
I think the Japanese/metal solder sucker is a step up from the plastic ones. The best thing though is the flexible silicone tip that you can replace. Not only does it not melt, but you can squeeze it into areas at an angle or apply pressure to it, etc.

Solder wick/braid works much better if you wipe it with a flux pen first IMHO.

I just recently got a Hakko FR300 and once I go the hang of it, it is so nice.
 
I have been using my Japanese one for a couple months now and I'm actually pretty impressed. I used to avoid desoldering ICs because I was never able to get enough solder out to avoid breaking legs off. I was *never* able to get braid to work at all. The Japanese thing absolutely clears every hole. There is a bit of a technique to it.. but once you have it down.. wow. I've pulled out four ICs in the last week with no problem at all. The silicone does not melt but it does break down eventually. And those little spare hoses are easy to lose. I dropped mine, couldn't find it, and am currently awaiting an order of replacements.
 
What's the weight of this solder sucker? Is it available on Amazon? One of my fellow use this solder sucker and his feedback was good though he didn't give a link where can I purchase this solder sucker.
 
I've got an Aven 17536 that I got from Digi-Key, which doesn't work TOO bad after 1 or two tries if I can get the solder hot enough without lifting the pads. What do you guys use to lubricate them with?

Solder wick has it's uses, but isn't the be-all-end-all either.

I'm thinking of getting an actual desoldering pump iron, but don't want to spend the $350 if I can avoid it. Anybody got experience with one of these: https://www.amazon.ca/YaeCCC-Electr...&qid=1552062980&s=gateway&sr=8-99-spons&psc=1 It doesn't look too bad from what I've seen, but probably needs to be rewired with a ground lug.
 
I have a cheap chinese solder sucker i bought years ago which hasn't been too bad to use but it's pretty much worn out now and need to get a new one, I used some light lubricant to keep the seals inside lubricated. I don't have any experience with the pump you linked to on Amazon but years ago i bought a CSI 474 Desoldering station and when new i found the suction capacity wasn't up to much and got worse as it got older, I'd rate it on par with the chinese solder sucker now but it wasn't so cheap.

Over the years i've found i can often do a better and often quicker job just using an iron and a decent stainless steel safety pin or Hollow needle + flux and wick rather than use the sucker or station.
 
Dave over at YT eevblog did a review of the ZD985 desoldering station (and there are some other YT vids on it).

If I did a lot of rework, I might consider getting one.
 
I've been soldering/desoldering for most of my life. I used to use a solder sucker for larger CRT TV circuit boards and it was fine. I've always found them to be awful for smaller vintage computer work - partly because the Teflon sucker tube is too big for use on through hole IC pins for example and partly because the kick back from the plunger can end up dislodging the copper traces/pads around the pins if you are not very carefull.

I got a vacuum desoldering station some months back:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pro-Deso...522184&hash=item520f962b3c:g:JnQAAOSwuMRbgc~e

I've never looked back. It opens up a whole new world of desoldering possibilities. I removed 8 4116 RAM ICs from a friends TI 99 motherboard not long ago and replaced them with sockets - he was able to test the RAM ICs and replace two he found defective. It took me an hour and a half of careful work but it was so easy and such a clean job.

I also coat all the solder joints to be desoldered with liquid flux - on both sides of the board. So not just the PCB trace side but on the component side too - helps the solder to flow out of the joint nice and easily and keeps everything clean as the joint is heated.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Flux-Sol...lcohol-Based/232441692632?hash=item361e9ac1d8

I don't have a lot of spare cash - but £80 on a vacuum desoldering station has not been a regrettable purchase.

In terms of diagnosing logic IC faults - im an impatient, under skilled moron. Having this desoldering station plus my chip tester makes the job of removing ICs for testing a quick and dirty affair for someone with lesser skills like me.
 

I have one of these also and so far it's been great. I don't do enough work to justify a hakko, but enough that hand desoldering with a soldering iron and the little blue solder suckers would keep me delaying projects because it would take so long, especially with IC's.

Regarding the blue solder suckers, I had one that wasn't too bad but I also had one (that came in a 3 pack), that was mostly unusable. If you have one with a good spring but too used that you need to buy another one, save the good spring because some of them come with truly useless springs.
 
I just ordered one of these little solder suckers after getting to actually pick one up and check it out at conmega's place. Mine hasn't come in yet. They seem to be very well built, I like the use of high temperature silicone tubing on the tip instead of the stiff Teflon tip usually found on these devices. I have a Hakko 472D vacuum desoldering station and use it all the time (*highly* recommend them, wouldn't bother with a knockoff when you can pick up the used Hakkos for reasonable money). I still use a spring-type solder sucker though, sometimes I only need to clear a few through-holes, or it's something with a really large mounting hole that's easy to desolder with a spring-type unit.
 
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