I've used Hakko vacuum de-soldering stations, and will agree that - at least for production work - they are superior. But most of my handwork and re-work has been with spring-loaded solder suckers, and here's what I've found.
The full-size 'Soldapult' devices are probably the best of the bunch, in terms of both vacuum power and displacement. They're also easier than some to clear out. Now having said this, I will NEVER again buy a genuine Edsyn Soldapult tool, after my experience with that company. It went like this: Bought a brand-new full-size Soldapult at +retail+ from an auth'd distributor. It worked for exactly around 20 minutes until it broke, totally. Said distributor +refused+ to take it back, told me to contact the manufacturer (and you'll see why, next). Contacted Edsyn and they simply refused to warranty it - period - no matter what.. I even told them exactly what went wrong and asked for the (simple) parts I'd need to repair it. Nope! Sorry! Nada. Then I got on the eBay and bought 2X of the China knock-offs plus 4X spare tips, which have been working fine now for 7-8 yrs. I put my faith in Edsyn and they just gave me the fat finger. Heck with that outfit. On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 9:00 PM, Eric Smith <space...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 7:33 PM, dwight <dkel...@hotmail.com> wrote: > > > It is interesting, I do take longer with the hand tools but I've never > > seen as much damage as with a desoldering type iron. > > The tips are too small to hold a good tin and the suction cools the > > joint too fast. > > > > Doing it with regular irom and a pullit does take skill. One has to know > > how to work the pin and the iron. One has to know when a pin is > > desoldered by feel. > > > > I've always had mediocre results at best when using a separate sucker, and > good results with a vacuum desoldering station. I use a Hakko 472D-01, and > it works beautifully. I've desoldered thousands of connections with it, and > have never had any damage to PCBs or components. I have two different size > tips for it, and haven't had any issue with the tip tinning. Once the > solder melts and you hit the button, it extracts the solder far faster than > it can cool, so I've never had any problem with cooling the joint to > quickly. > > Patience is also required. > > > > Patience is almost always a good idea, but it's not required with a good > vacuum desoldering station. Last fall I installed a DIN 41612 connector on > the wrong side of a board, and only discovered that after soldering more > than half of the 96 pins. I thought it was going to be a nightmare removing > it, but the Hakko made short work of it (less than 5 minutes), and it came > out very cleanly. > > Hakko says that the replacement for the discontinued 472D-01 (110W) is the > FR410-03 (140W), and it looks like a nice unit, but it is much more > expensive. The FM-204 (70W) would be easier on the budget, but I haven't > tried it, so I have no idea whether the reduced wattage would be an issue. > > Some people may be unaware that with temperature-controlled soldering > equipment, more wattage is almost always better. That is NOT true for > uncontrolled (or poorly controlled) soldering equipment, such as cheap > soldering pencils; with those it's quite possible and easy to damage > boards, as a consequence of either too little or too much wattage. > > Eric >
