Tips and Tricks for Desoldering

While soldering is an important skill, being able to desolder (that is to remove solder from a joint) is also important. No one can solder the components perfectly every time, so in some cases, it can be even more important than soldering itself. Desoldering is just like soldering to some extent which needs to be practiced again and again. The following tips should help you to learn more about how to correctly desolder so as to avoid some unnecessary damage. 1. Use heatsinks. Heatsinks are a must for the leads of sensitive components such as ICs and transistors. If you don't have a clip on heatsink, then a pair of pliers is a good substitute.2. Keep the iron tip clean. A clean iron tip means better heat conduction. You’d better to use a wet sponge to clean the tip.3. Check the pads. You need to inspect to make sure you did not damage the pad or trace when you removed the solder. 4. Use the proper iron. Although bigger joints will take longer to heat up with a 30W iron than with a 150W iron, 30W is still the best choice because this wattage is suitable for printed circuit boards. While higher wattages are great when desolder heavy connections, such as chassis.5. Both solder suckers and solder wicks should be use during the desolder process. Start by using a solder sucker to remove the majority of the solder, and then use a wick to finish things up.