A de-soldering stations such as the DSX 80 Weller safe to use

[ENB]

I am still a novice at electronic repair and often find that I struggle with desoldering tasks. The braid(s) that I have used lately does not seem to work as efficiently as some I have had in the past. I have an an old T Series (mint green) Weller soldering station and normally use a tip rated at 700 degrees. Is this tip too cool or slow to work effectively with braid?

I have been admonished that the automatic desoldering stations tend to be "too" hot and send some A/C into the PC boards. I am fairly "heat sink" concious but would like to know how others feel regarding the usefulness of a dedicated desoldering station. I have also never tried the manual vaccum sucker because my mentor preaches "use the braid" "use the braid". Thoughts?

[dai h.]

if the braid is oxidized, it either won't work or won't work well

[Mark Black]

I've been pretty happy with my Hakko 808 desoldering gun:

Amazon.com: Hakko Desoldering Kit, With 808 Gun, 120 VAC: Home Improvement

At less than $200 it's great bang for the buck.

All desoldering stations seem to be a bit on the high-maintenance side, requiring frequent cleaning and such, but are a great tool in the arsenal. Hand vacuum "solder suckers" have their place too, but beware of recoil smashing the tip into the work & bending things or ruining traces on a PCB. Sometimes braid is the best solution so I always have some of that too. I like choices...

In the end I suppose it's all about the particular needs of the situation.

[olddawg]

IMHO, you do not need a dedicated de-soldering device like a Hakko or a Pace unless you have a shop environment. Liquid flux (use it) and braid work fine. Keep your tips clean with a wet sponge and use the appropriate tip. Also, the low temp de-solder kits like Chip Quick work well. Another trick is to simply cut the legs off of devices with a razor blade then de-solder the legs. This is especially helpful if the device is glued to the board. When I was on the bench, I found my most valuable tool was a something called a circuit viewer, which was just a large low power binocular microscope with a bright light. At home a big magnifying glass and a halogen lamp works well.

[dai h.]

probably depends how much desoldering you do. (A vacuum desoldering tool such as the Hakko 808, etc.) might be useful for a DIY situation if the project is big (i.e. lots of joints to desolder such as a large mixer PCB or whatever) since braid can be time consuming in comparison.

[bkahuna]

I used to have a Hakko 707 that I never did get to be useful. Maybe I didn't know how to use and maintain it properly, but it was just a nightmare. Continuously clogged. I would think perhaps the temp was too low, so I'd turn it up. Then it would trash circuit traces.

I gave up and went back to the solder sucker and wick.
I did find a roll of wick that was not properly fluxed, and wouldn't soak up anything. The manufacturer replaced it.
For surface mount stuff, I have a hot air station that works amazingly well.