That guy at the electronics recycler changed my mind about using hot air on old boards

I used to think hot air was the only way to desolder big multipin parts like connectors and ICs. But last month I was at a small recycler in Phoenix watching this older guy work on a stack of old power supplies. He just used a cheap soldering iron and a vacuum desoldering gun thing, no hot air at all. He told me he sees too many people lift pads and burn boards with hot air, especially on cheap single-layer stuff from the 90s. I tried his method on a busted VCR board I had sitting around and saved three pads I would have cooked for sure. Has anyone else gone back to old-school desoldering methods for certain jobs?

4 comments

4 Comments

michaeld481mo ago

That hot air method really is a trap on old boards, the heat just spreads too much and cooks everything around it. The vacuum desoldering gun approach is way more forgiving once you get the hang of it since you're only heating one pin at a time. Old school methods might take longer but they definitely save you from that sinking feeling of watching a trace peel up.

ray_martinez821mo ago

Had a buddy who tried hot air on an old PlayStation motherboard. He was all proud setting up his fancy station, cranked it to 400 degrees, and melted a plastic connector before the solder even flowed. Then he tried again on a different board, same thing, lifted three traces. Third time he said "screw it" and used a solder sucker and a cheap iron. Boards been fine ever since. He still has the hot air station but he mainly uses it for shrink tubing now.

miller.rowan1mo ago

That old guy sounds like a genius, I wrecked three boards with hot air before I learned my lesson too.

jana_jones1mo ago

Wait, you actually wrecked THREE boards before you figured it out? How did you even get that far without realizing something was off? I mean, I get it, hot air guns can be tricky, but three boards seems like you were really committed to the wrong approach. Were you just cranking the heat up higher each time thinking it would fix itself? That must have been some expensive learning experience, especially if those were nice hardwood planks. I would have given up after the first one and gone straight to asking someone for help.