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duratool desoldering gun

That's what I use. It works great. No idea what you mean by "getting the waggle right"...

It's low price and general efficacy make it almost churlish to criticise but it does need continual "user input" to keep it unclogged (poking sticks for this come with it!) and in heavy use it needs emptying about every 20 mins which is a bit of a pain and best handled like removing nuclear waste due to the potential for exposure to very fine powdered lead....
 
I wish that I could justify one but that is never going to happen.

I also wish that the current sprung-loaded solder suckers were universally reliable but cheap ones have nozzles a yard across and the O rings don't fit properly, so there is next to no suck. When you consider what they cost, £84 is insanely cheap.​
 
i have found a little waggle before removing it from the component leg stops the leg from sticking to any residual solder left especially with through hole plated pcb's
just watched a video on you tube unsoldering a 40 pin ic socket and it looks like a bit of flux spread over before helps
 
Arkless Electronics said:
best handled like removing nuclear waste due to the potential for exposure to very fine powdered lead....
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You might think in these days of Health and Safety someone would invent a lead free solder, though it might only be as good as lead free paint. :rolleyes:

The vaporised lead in the soldering fumes must be a worse hazard, though I never inhale....
 
Vinny said:
I wish that I could justify one but that is never going to happen.

I also wish that the current sprung-loaded solder suckers were universally reliable but cheap ones have nozzles a yard across and the O rings don't fit properly, so there is next to no suck. When you consider what they cost, £84 is insanely cheap.​
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it was a toss up between this and a second hand focusrite scarlet 2i2 external sound card
both about the same price but i will get more use out of this will get the focusrite later this year
 
i remember work giving us leadfree solder to solder vga cables to a 15 pin d sub
tried it once (SHITE) went in the bin
i wonder if 60/40 will be phased out at some point ? :eek:
 
misterdog said:
You might think in these days of Health and Safety someone would invent a lead free solder
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Industry has been lead-free for what must be around 10 years, apart from aero-space which is exempt. Lead solder, as I understand it, is available by virtue of a loophole in the law.
Most lamps in soft glass bulbs had lead-glass around the leadwires - even that was banned as part of lead-free legislation.
 
Vinny said:
I wish that I could justify one but that is never going to happen.

I also wish that the current sprung-loaded solder suckers were universally reliable but cheap ones have nozzles a yard across and the O rings don't fit properly, so there is next to no suck. When you consider what they cost, £84 is insanely cheap.​
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Vinny
try a set of stainless hollow needles you can buy for a few quid of fleabay work a treat come in different sizes
you place over the leg melt the solder and the needle goes through the hole with the component let inside the needle
the solder will still need cleaning off the pcb after tho
i found it works better than a sucker

20201028_105023 by glenn jarrett, on Flickr
 
50968841423_88272deac5_b.jpg


I bought a Hakko a couple of years ago and it is superb in most scenarios, just makes it ridiculously easy and fast. Unfortunately this BBC Micro PSU pictured wasn’t one of those as all the leads had been pushed flat sideways during manufacturing! Ughh.

PS That’s obviously before I started, it looked way neater afterwards!
 
I'm not sure that even working with lead has any neccessity to be dangerous in terms of ingestion, unless someone is really dumb.

A friend, now retired, was a vet, and he had an amazon parrot brought in with very odd symptoms that were eventually traced to be lead poisoning. It took some while to figure out, but when the husband got home each evening, the parrot would fly to him and begin grooming/preening his hair. What he did for a living I do not recall, but he had enough lead on his hair to poison the parrot, but he was fine.

Flux fumes play hell with my asthma though.
 
I was under the impression that flux inhalation is the dangerous bit as that burns off, but the lead stays put. Is this correct? Fume extraction is the part I’m totally missing, I really need to land a little fan at some point as working on the floor (I have no space anywhere for a table) means I’m right over it whenever I do anything. If I soldered more regularly I’d definitely address this aspect.
 
Tony L said:
I was under the impression that flux inhalation is the dangerous bit as that burns off, but the lead stays put. Is this correct?
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Even lead (even gold) has a vapour pressuer, just an incredibly low one, although any organic lead compounds formed will have higher vapour pressures by far, and that is what flux does - it dissolves oxide and other tarnish compounds.

But, yes, flux is horrendous stuff if inhaled - it is just horrible organic fumes at the end of the day, quite a few of them very reactive.
 
As I solder with lead virtually every day I just use normal commonsense such as always washing hands before making a cuppa, eating, smirking a tab etc. I do regard the very fine powder from cleaning the desolderer as a major hazard though due to the massively increased surface area for absorption and possibility of even breathing in a small amount. I'm super careful here and even clean the bench, my hands and the handle of the desolderer with IPA then soapy water every time I have to clean it out... which as I said can be 20 min intervals with intense non stop use! A PITA!

Flux is the fumes issue as I said earlier. It effects people differently and seems to have no effect on me.

I have a bench carbon filtered suction fan but only use it for when I'm reworking FR4 PCB with a diamond grinder as I certainly do notice the very fine powdered fibreglass! Maybe it just blows it back out the other side but at least it helps remove some of it from directly where I'm working to maybe a couple of foot away...
 
Vinny said:
Even lead (even gold) has a vapour pressuer, just an incredibly low one, although any organic lead compounds formed will have higher vapour pressures by far, and that is what flux does - it dissolves oxide and other tarnish compounds.

But, yes, flux is horrendous stuff if inhaled - it is just horrible organic fumes at the end of the day, quite a few of them very reactive.
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IIRC made from tree resin/sap traditionally. No idea if that's still the case.
 
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