For those of you who solder...

[Eric D]

I highly recommend you give Chipquik products a try. This is a low melt solder alloy. It makes damaging vias a thing of the past.

It comes with a length of the alloy, and a syringe of the best solder flux I have ever used. I apply some flux, and then use a solder sucker or wick to get most of the original solder off. I then apply a bit more flux and the Chipquik alloy to blend with the solder there. Heat all the points up and pull the item out. The alloy stays melted for a long time, and makes pulling parts way easier. If you use this on caps, you will never damage anything. When I get the item out, I go back with some flux and wick to get the Chipquik out of there. Then a bit of lacquer thinner with a Q-tip and the location looks factory fresh.

Look at the results I had below removing the gain and bass pots off of an M50...

[longboard]

looks good wheres it avalible from??

[Eric D]

Try this link...

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea ... me=SMD1-ND

[ttocs]

never seen anything like it, how do ya use it? is it for removing comonants or soldering them down?

couldn't have told me that last week when I ordered from them?

[Eric D]

Here is a pretty good video of this stuff in action.

It is for removing components, not installing them. The alloy lowers the melting point of solder.

The video is for surface mount components, but thru-hole devices work just the same, although I personally try to remove some of the original solder first, instead of just adding the alloy to what is there. The more alloy instead of solder, the longer it will stay molten.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kyaz4Zrd78

[holmis]

Damn! Thats some cool stuff....

[ttocs]

ah see I could have used it last week infact when I desoldered the green leds out of my dd5 to put in the blue, I spend the money on a desoldering kit instead with the suction ball on the hot iron

[Bfowler]

It makes damaging vias a thing of the past.

my motto is...make something idiot proof, and i will become a better idiot

[Eric D]

This really is not all that useful for two pin items like LEDs. They are small enough you can heat both pins at the same time with regular solder, and then pull the item out. The hole can then be cleaned with wick and a solder pump.

I don't use this on three pinned transistors either, my iron tip can bridge across three pins to pull those items in one shot.

This low melt alloy is best for mult-pinned items. With this stuff you can pull an op-amp, and never damage it, or the holes it goes into.

[Thumper88]

We use low melt solder quite a bit in the repair area at work. It's great for clearing holes that are on the ground plane and removing smd components with multiple pins instead of using hot air. Just be sure to put down some kapton tape if there is any components nearby, it has a tendency to get everywhere if you're not careful.

We use this stuff:
http://www.zeph.com/lowmelt.htm

[gridracer]

Eric can you recommend a quality solder station? I want something decent not junky willing to pay a fair amount if its a quality item.

[JayGold]

Nice stuff....I may use this on the EQ215ix I have to repair.

[Eric D]

In the case of soldering irons or stations, I use one of these...

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea ... e=WES51-ND

It is easily the best investment I have ever made in any tool. But, keep in mind I planned on a future of soldering when I bought it. For those of you who plan to fix an amp or two, it may be hard to justify the price.

I bought mine before I was doing a lot of amp work, as I was just plain sick of the crappy plug into the wall self contained irons. At the time I used a very expensive soldering station at work, so I learned how much easier they made life.

[The Golden One]

does that station have a built in solder sucker?

[brenzbmr@sb]

thats fkn pimp!!

[mhyde71]

BEAUTIFUL WORK- Gonna have to look into that... for sure!

matt

[Eric D]

does that station have a built in solder sucker?

No. This station is just an iron with variable temp. I use a cheap solder sucker or "pump" to get the molten solder out of things. Then I clean up the rest with wick.

[ttocs]

for desoldering I prefer the iron with the bulb built in.

I have an iron I got from radio shack, has the adjustable wattage built into the handle that works great.

[The Golden One]

does that station have a built in solder sucker?

No. This station is just an iron with variable temp. I use a cheap solder sucker or "pump" to get the molten solder out of things. Then I clean up the rest with wick.

it must be great to have an adjustable heat range when working on small circuits and also so you don't burn up some resistors but having a built in solder sucker would make it that much better. but im shure that would jack the price up alot more. for sucking up solder i use a moded turkey baster with a pen tip and it works on most things but some things require even more prehistoric methods. so i guess i may try to get some of that low temp solder for those times when good flow out is hard to maintain.