Can someone recommend decent soldering/desoldering station

I agree here. And if you can't find "solder braid," try "solder wick." :-)

Cheers! Rich

As I recall we used this one - or the dated one before this model.

Mart> >>> Iggy, was the set made using lead-free solder? This may have bee your

problem. Regular soldering irons may not get hot enough unless you have an adjustable heat unit.

the posting tomorrow. I know they use RF to heat the tip.

quick before it solidifies.

It's the "new" google group interface. Uses NO, I repeat, NO Reference headers!!!

They've really gone and s*it up Usenet now.

To everyone even tempted to use the new google interface... DON'T!!!

Yup. That is a sweet tool.

--Winston

I've used a Pace as well, but pasty solder that doesn't stick sounds like the lead-free stuff to me. Had a miserable time trying to pull decayed through-hole caps on a motherboard with that stuff on it. Wouldn't wick and stuck like glue. Wouldn't suck out, either. Ended up doing the cap wiggle maneuver, heat one leg, push the top over to pull the lead as far as it would go, do the other side the same, repeat until extracted. Then drill the holes out with a small bit. Had to watch the heat so the plating didn't come along with the leads. The replacements got a dose of the good old stuff, some Sav- Bit Ersin I keep around for such occasions. I tried the dilution with regular solder bit, the original stuff didn't mix at all.

Stan

I use one of Kester's mild RMA rosin liquid fluxes and some 1/8" braid to wet wick solder off joints. It's a lot cheaper and does a lot less damage to a board.

This is what I did too, wiggled the caps.

Then I used an awl to make holes, together with a soldering iron. Melt, push awl, etc.

I think that my other problem is a 10+ year old paste flux. Could it be?

For all electrical soldering I use rosin core solder. The rosin is the flux.

Ignoramus30421 fired this volley in news:bpSdnXgZmsHqyQLQnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

Um... what sort of paste flux might that be, Ig?

What might not have been a problem when you used it could certainly turn out to be one in a year or two.

LLoyd

I apply extra liquid rosin flux as well. It floats oxides out and results in a great looking, shiny joint.

Kester 186 is also available in a pen applicator for electronic soldering.

--Winston

Probably not, assuming it still has the same "paste" consistency as it's always had. Even if it'd dried out to crust and lumps, it should melt in use; you could try dissolving the crust and lumps in alcohol. I'm pretty sure that rosin continues to be rosin, unless it gets moldy or something.

Hope This Helps! Rich

Thanks for the "head's up", Metron.

I set myself up on Eternal-September and see what you wrote about!!!! I knew Google was a POS, but could not see what it was doing to real news readers.

Hope future posts will be better organized!

Paul

I took a picture of what I have. It is called "APE SMD-2000M" soldering/desoldering station.

A few years ago, I could not make either of them work, so I just kept them in a corner.

Perhaps, now that I have a little more experience fixing stuff, I should take another look at those stations.

Its possibly not your soldering iron, those things are just bastards to work on. And its because they now use (mandated) lead free solder which is a real bitch. Its not real solder. Military, medical, aviation are exempt, its just too flaky... What you do is:- flood the connection with regular solder, you then got a chance to get it out. But for caps I wouldn't - the boards are (invariably) double sided which are awkward at the best of times. For things like power supply caps, crunch them off the board and discard - then pull each remaining pigtail out with a pair of long nose pliers, after doing step 1 of resoldering with "Real" solder to try and get a better flow.

And - a decent HAKKO clone can be had for 40 dollars here, does the job well, lots of tips available. I have even used a chefs propane blowtorch on occasion - works well with a bit of practice.....got lots of specialised and just plain brutal soldering irons, collected them over a lifetime of radio work. But, still looking for a kerosene blowtorch type that rests horizontal and heats up about half a pound of copper bit - great for soldering downpipes and guttering.

Of course, if you REALLY want to, you can spend thousands of dollars on specialised equipment designed to do this sort of job you mention........but I dont think thats the way its done here!

Am surprised you got it working that easy - they mostly take out a few controller IC's at the same time. BTW - were the faulty caps near anything that was getting hot?....

Andrew VK3BFA.

Looks like the cat's meow for both through hole and SMT. Go for it.

Kevin Gallimore

Iggy, Looks impressive indeed - like one of those projects we can all get going real good if we just do......(however long it takes) whats the hand-pieces like, what sorta tips did you get, is there a cleaning kit, etc etc.? - does it work - its obviously had a hard life - this new thing - is it going to help, or get in the way. And not meaning to be rude, honest, but you DO know how to hand solder, the basics is being able to do it without a complex machine. Getting in the way, mostly. Needing maintenance. I got trained in the Aviation industry on How to Solder Properly....thought I knew how before I did the course. Nearly went insane making up wire grids, 1 inch square, then soldering every intersection. 3 months of it. There was a glass case in the foyer - some bloke had gone nuts, years ago, and built a Really Impressive soldered wire frame Spanish Galleon from all the practice attempts littering the place up..

I got machines like that - Chinese knock-offs of HAKKO, usually. (Yours look a tad more classy - production line stuff, or high level servicing.) Good luck with it. My stuff is the soldering equivalent of the 9 by 20 generic lathe. They work ok, saved me neck a few times, but for 80% of the time, the plain ordinary temperature controlled iron for $40 just chugs along. I know how to solder, who cares if its got a bullshit temperature readout.Pissed off with Weller - went great for 20+ years, nice iron. Then started dying, all the new spares were crap, didnt last. Even bought a new one, same thing - just crap. The other 20% - well, usually a $10 100w beast got ages ago - half inch tip... lethal design, but gets lots of heat into a joint. Relic Scope irons here in Oz..- crude but effective technology using a carbon tip pushed against the rear face of the bit - 3.3V, 30 amps peak. You could get them hot enough to light a cigarette. Anything in the car, no worries. not too good on transistors and IC's though.....I had a version of one in my cable jointers van - big lead acid 6v battery. 30ft of cable to the iron. Worked well, if you looked after the battery. I did, knew about SG and stuff like that, had hygrometer, voltmeter, kept an eye on it. Could work all day if it had to. Had enuff grunt. Was Good.

Andrew VK3BFA.