{"id":5994,"date":"2015-02-06T11:01:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-06T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2015\/02\/06\/a-de-soldering-primer-by-wayne-burdick\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T19:59:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T09:59:35","slug":"a-de-soldering-primer-by-wayne-burdick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2015\/02\/06\/a-de-soldering-primer-by-wayne-burdick\/","title":{"rendered":"A De-Soldering Primer By Wayne Burdick"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n
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A De-Soldering Primer <\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
By<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Wayne Burdick, N6KR<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
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Removing resistors and other parts from double-sided boards is easy and <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
fun. After years of careful analysis of my own technique I have documented <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
the process. I start with technique #1, below; if that doesn’t work, I try <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
#2, etc. Good luck! <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
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1. Turn the board over. With one hand behind your back, a wry smile, and <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
the confidence of a pet surgeon, simply heat the lead in question and <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
listen for the pleasant sound of the component hitting the work bench. <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
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2. Well, that *would* be too easy, wouldn’t it. Staying with the solder <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
side for now, locate a large solder sucker (the larger the better; it <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
should frighten smaller pets when brandished). Heat each joint and deftly <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
suck out the solder with a single satisfying Thwop! Listen for the part <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
hitting the bench. <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
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3. Didn’t fall out, eh? No problem: rummage in that tool bin for a shiny <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
new roll of solder wick. Crack open a beer, too, and take a generous swig. <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
Wedge that wick in between the lead and pad, heat until you see the solder <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
flow nicely onto the wick, and pull it out of the way just in time to see a <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
beatiful, black annular ring around your component lead. Nudge each lead <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
with your iron and keep your fingers crossed. <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
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4. OK, so you’ve got a tough customer: small lead, hole just barely <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
larger, and a bit of off-color solder that can’t be bothered with any of <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
the usual techniques. Have another sip of that brew. Vigorously flip the <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
board back to the component side. Now grip the lead professionally with <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
your most elegant long-nose pliers and hold on tight. Give it a playful <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
yank, then pray. Should pop right out. <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
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5. Damn. Finish the beer and get out your brutal, 8″ electrician’s <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
long-nose. Grab the component with gusto this time, buster, then tip the <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
board up at a 45. Turn up your soldering station to max and heat that baby <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
up on the backside. Pull down hard with the pliers. <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
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6. No go? Hmmmm — let’s get serious. Put the board up directly on its <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
edge and hold it in place vertically with your chin. Since your iron is <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
suspect by this time, test it for several seconds on the nearest exposed <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
skin. (Doing it by accident is just as effective.) Heat the joint with <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
*feeling* this time. Lunge and parry. Don’t worry about the pad, traces, <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
or other parts–this is war! With maximal chin pressure exerted to hold <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
the offending board in place, pull the lead out, out, Out! <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
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7. OK, so you “…couldn’t get hold of it…,” blah blah blah. Fool! <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
You must risk everthing at this stage. Insert a small screwdriver under <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
the part, and white-knuckle that soldering iron on the obverse. Pry and <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
heat until it pops. (Note: It is important to keep in mind the concept of <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
“kick-back” should you succeed at this. PC boards are likely to <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
wobble, flop, slip, then fling out of your grasp once the offending little <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
monster finally lets go, taking test leads and soldering station with it.) <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n
8. So, what kind of inept dweeb are you, anyway? Give up! Clip the part. <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
Leave some lead to grab onto and repeat #6 and 7. If your face has turned <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
red it is best to shield the work from veiw with your body, then steal a <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
quick look behind you to be sure noone is suppressing a giggle as they <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
watch this humiliating display. <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
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9A. The lead came out but you STILL have some solder left in the hole? <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
Gads. Find another part that you can sacrifice. Press its helpless<\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
lead into the depressingly small pit you made in the center of the pad. <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
Heat the base of the lead until you achieve Punch-Through. Yank and Heat, <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
Yank and Heat. Evetually the solder will give up in disgust and the <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
sacrificial component lead will slide smoothly, signalling victory. <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
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9B. To your left is a hand drill; to your right is a #60 bit. You know <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
what you must do. <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
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10. Now\u2014you brute!\u2014 now that you’ve overheated the pad, broken the trace, <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
cracked the component, gouged the board, pitted the tip, blistered the <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
skin, wasted a beer, and irrefutably proven once and for all that you <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
should have taken up gardening instead, NOW maybe you’ll learn the color <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
code! <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/b><\/span> <\/b><\/div>\n
\ud83d\ude09 <\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/b><\/span>N6KR<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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<\/b><\/o:p><\/div>\n
Thanks Wayne! Been there! Done ALL that! This brought to mind the time I soldered in a 16 pin logic chip on a double sided board… UPSIDE DOWN. TRIBAL KNOWLEDGE MY FRIENDS. <\/i><\/b><\/o:p><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/o:p><\/div>\n

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics” http:\/\/soldersmoke.com\/book.htm<\/a> Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http:\/\/www.cafepress.com\/SolderSmoke<\/a> Our Book Store: http:\/\/astore.amazon.com\/contracross-20<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A De-Soldering Primer By Wayne Burdick, N6KR Removing resistors and other parts from double-sided boards is easy and fun. After years of careful analysis of my own technique I have documented the process. I start with technique #1, below; if that doesn’t work, I try #2, etc. Good luck! 1. Turn the board over. With … Continue reading “A De-Soldering Primer By Wayne Burdick”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,71,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solder","category-test-gear","category-troubleshooting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5994"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5996,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5994\/revisions\/5996"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}