Best tool for desoldering sticks on a Play Station 5 controllers
Is a desoldering gun or hot air station better for the job of removing whole sticks and / or just potentiometer?
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Hi!
I always use my Soldering iron with copper wick to get it removed and it works fine.
I do need to crank up the heat to 400 celsius to get it removed, because of the lead free solder.
A hot air station works fine as well for me! But you need to be carefull that the solder will not remain stuck in the holes…
If you have any more questions, please let me know!
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I am having a hard time using mu copper wick, it mostly gets stuck to the PCB. I'll try to practice more. Does the wick width matter?
It’s a possibility. I use the size: .100” 10-25L. From Chem-Wik.
But most likely happening due the lead free solder. This requires more heat and makes it hard to remove them…. I would use some leaded solder and solder it to the sticks, then try again removing it.
@dan0 Yeah I use also lead free solder, I am kind of worried about using lead. Do you have any advice how to work with leaded solder? I only heard to wash hands afterwards but I feel it could easily get into my clothes and the rest of my house.
Do you have a window in that room?? Make sure it’s open before you start! Some people do use a soldering fume extractor. But if you only solder once in a while, it’s fine.
Leaded solder will melt with lower temperatures. So that is a plus.
Always wash your hands after soldering!
For your clothes it’s fine. Always make sure that you ventilate whenever possible.
If you have any questions, please let me know!
I managed to take off one potentiometer and clean two out of three holes, but the third one is just not budging. It is filled with solder and I cannot for the life of me clan it up. I tried wick, soldering pump, adding more solder, adding flux and nothing works.
I even think I might have moved one of the tiny resistor because I see one right next to the hole where I was working, and it feels like it shouldn't be there :/
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Just some tips I learned:
If having trouble removing solder make sure:
- Your soldering iron tip is tinned
- Make sure you have an ample amount of flux
- When using wick, make sure you have some solder on the tip of your iron to help with heating the copper and use SHORT pieces of which so your iron isn’t trying to heat a large piece of copper.
- Try adding more solder to what you are trying to remove to flush out stubborn holes.
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