I concur with the recommendation for a Hakko Desoldering tool. The Hakko 808 has been discontinued but I bought the Hakko FR-300 (the new and 'improved' version). I use Weller solder stations but the Hakko FR-300 saved my bacon.
I had just soldered a DIP IC in backwards (completely pilot error) and following suggestions from the list I bought the new version to try to save the DIP IC. All I did was add a bit of solder where the solder braid had partially removed it and desoldered each pin in order - the DIP IC lifted out. I didn't have to sacrifice the IC or the board. As I recall the FR-300 was about $260 from Amazon. This list has helped me on more than one occasion and I'd like to thank those who participate. Jim Finan AB4AC Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone. Original Message From: Richard W. Solomon Sent: Friday, April 15, 2016 12:34 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Elecraft] k2 continuing on (nothing to lose) The two best tools I have found are the HAKKO FX-888D Soldering Station and the HAKKO 808 De-Soldering tool. Not exactly in the RS price range, but if you do a lot of thru-hole board work, well worth the money. I don't do much SMD work although I have a Hot Air system and can solder quite well with the HAKKO. Replacing hole through relays is a snap with the HAKKO 808. The parts just fall off the board. 73, Dick, W1KSZ -----Original Message----- From: Elecraft [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ron D'Eau Claire Sent: Friday, April 15, 2016 8:33 AM To: 'lstavenhagen'; [email protected] Subject: Re: [Elecraft] k2 continuing on (nothing to lose) Great news LS. If that RS desoldering tool is like the one I have somewhere in the bottom of my junk box, it is not temperature-controlled and does a wonderful job of delaminating traces from pc boards. It simply gets too hot. That's why mine is where it is... 73, Ron AC7AC -----Original Message----- From: Elecraft [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of lstavenhagen Sent: Friday, April 15, 2016 6:57 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [Elecraft] k2 continuing on (nothing to lose) Hi all, Tnx for all the encouragement and suggestions by PM and on the list on my K2 tragedy. After thinking it over after something to eat I decided I didn't have anything to lose by simply continuing on. My thinking was, ok, this is a learning experience, right? So I figured, ok, let's learn how to remove a component without tearing everything up LOL. If I could get the second ruined relay out without doing more damage to the board, I was ok. I did manage to get the pads back down on the first relay socket and I didn't see that the traces were actually broken. So I carefully threaded the new relay in and soldered it in like normal. Fingers crossed that all the connections are good. As for other relay that I ruined, I robbed a relay out of my KAT2 kit and got out my desoldering iron from Radio Shack. Not the best desoldering tool in the world and it has failed me in the past, but marginally better than desoldering braid and nothing else and went to work. After sucking out as much solder as I could on the pins, I flush cut them as far down as I could go and went over the pads again with the iron and braid. Fortunately, this relay came out easily after cutting it in half on the topside with the wire cutters. No damage to the board. At that point, I was cooking with gas and decided to install L33 and the remaining diodes. That put me at the alignment part II stage. By about 10pm last night I'd complete the receiver alignment and all those circuits checked out virtually perfect. So the RX is intact and receiving on 40M. I hear relays click when I go through the bands - the 20m bandpass filter is where I did all the damage and replaced the relays, so maybe they're hooked up and working right. Anyway, at this point, since the RX is fine and working normally as far as I can tell, I think I should just go ahead with the rest of the build and see what happens on 20M when it's done. Like Wayne suggested, if there does end up a problem on 20M at the end, I can probably just run wires on the bottom of the board to hook it all up. It'll do me good to go back to the schematic anyway lol. So onwards with the build and hope the rescue effort succeeds hi hi. Tnx es 73, LS W5QD -- View this message in context: http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/k2-continuing-on-nothing-to-lose-tp7616 392.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected] ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected] ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected] ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected]
