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Removing solder?

JTC

JTC

PFM Villager...
Hi there.

I've been messing with things that I shouldn'ta oughta - nothing valuable, but little banana adaptors, which I've managed to solder to some spare banana plugs I had. Which was the intention at the time, but now I need the original bananas for something else and I want to remove the solder as if it had never been soldered in the first place.

Any tips? I could buy some new banana plugs but seeing as these ones are otherwise fine I thought I'd try to 'desolder' them - but I don't know how.

Ta

jtc
 
You can buy a desoldering tool, sort of a small vacuum pump (like a tyre inflator in reverse!) or desoldering wick which is a copper braid which soaks up the excess solder. The latter is the cheapest, both available from Maplin.
 
Any tips? I could buy some new banana plugs but seeing as these ones are otherwise fine I thought I'd try to 'desolder' them - but I don't know how.
Click to expand...

My method here is to hold the plug in a pair of pliers and heat it up for a good while with the iron. Once the solder is well and truly melted bang the hot plug real hard onto the floor or table you are working on (it helps to have some newspaper down to protect the carpet!). The solder just falls off. Doing this a couple of times will result in a clean plug.

Tony.
 
If you are clearing thru hole boards or desoldering sm chips, it can help to use some flux too.

Add the flux to the pad apply the desoldering braid first and then the iron on top to neatly wick up the liquid solder. It's much safer on delicate parts and boards than using a solder sucker. Although I've never had great results using the braid without the flux, the two together seem to work a treat.

For banana plugs, the above method is definitely the best, you can also use the soldering iron's wet sponge on the well heated part to remove any remaining stubborn bits of solder.
 
If your Banana plugs have grub screws you will need to remove these whilst the solder is still molten , otherwise they will just stick in place. You can then clean each item seperately. HTH.
 
They're Z-plugs, so no screw involved if I recall correctly.

I was really arsing around but I shoulda used old plugs instead...

jtc
 
The first time I tried Tony's solution I burnt my bloody fingers. I used pliers next time though.

I found shaking the hot plug very hard out of the kitchen door saves the carpet and most if not all the solder comes off first time. Shame about the cat though.:D

Mick
 
I use another little trick whilst soldering , or un-soldering Banana plugs. I use a large lump of soft wood 2" x 3" x 12" . Into this i drill a series of 3.7 to 4mm holes. I insert the banana plug into the hole whilst working on the termination end. Basically the wood is a great insulator so doesn't act as a heat sink sucking all the heat away from your Solder Iron tip. It holds the banana very securely and surprisingly doesn't burn whilst in use. It works for me anyway.
 
Use a solder sucker vacuum pump thingy.
Tony's "bang it on the floor" approach sounds fun, but a bit scary.
Sid (and/or Coke?)'s drilled holes in a piece of wood is a great idea. I've used a mini vise, adjustable spanner, pliers, etc. to hold things, but I like the wood thing better. (Don't drill all the way through though!)
 
Yep, that'll do the job nicely on soldering heavy-guage wire and bananas etc. Not much use for delicate jobs though!

BTW those things are basically transformers, with just a handful of secondary turns and a 100A or so flowing through the tip (at v. low voltage) - which is basically an exposed bit of the winding! Knowing this, you can use it to demagnetise screwdrivers - just poke them through the loop and give 'em a few seconds exposure to the AC field.
 
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