Easy Way to Desolder and Remove Through Hole Connectors or Components

[@WillianMS]

Boy, I was like 1 hour trying to desolder a 3 pin switch. Watched your video and did it in less than 3 min. Thanks a lot!

[@GoingShirtless]

Well - I have been trying to desolder 3 pins for like 3 DAYS and the f*****g solder will not wick into the desoldering wire no matter how much heat I add or how much extra solder I add. I takes away everything from the SURFACE but nothing from the holes. I hate soldering. I hate it so much.

[@tromboli6909]

@@GoingShirtless add flux to your wick

[@jiperey]

I often use a bare copper wire, that I solder all along the pins I need to desolder. This wire acts as a heat spreader. It is more or less the same technique as yours, except it needs much less solder. Anyway, great video, that will help many people out there. Thanks, Robert.

[@JuanPabloCisneros2207]

I use a desoldering pump and when the amount of solder is small enough I use the desoldering copper wire. Sometimes adding lot of heat in a transistor or ic can be not that good to the part

[@PETATNISSEN]

Good tip! Will test it next time.

[@phr3ui559]

is this safe for ICs? will the high temp be bad

[@Xw3dn3sd4yX]

This is a fantastic video you've made here! It's very concise and to the point and with the magnification it's so much easier to see what's happening and what to do. Thank you very much! I've been going about this all wrong, but now I know better thanks to you!

[@queasyRider3]

No kidding. At least to me it seems counter-intuitive. But, there it is on video, obviously working very well for you. I'll just need to try it myself. Thanks to Robert for posting a useful tip.

[@udance4ever]

@2:40 thank you for the tip to add more solder if you're having trouble cleaning the hole. this video saves me having to buy a solder sucker - I only have 2 holes to clear to replace a battery & it's clear from this video I can get the job done w the wick that is arriving today!

[@person880]

Great video! Some tips: * Use flux to make this whole job much easier. * If you don't care about salvaging the connector, try to destroy as much of it as possible from the other side. Flush cutters or similar pliers and snipping tools work well to cut up plastic connectors. * If your board is large and has a lot of important stuff on it, use a hot air reflow machine to heat up the board around the connector before soldering/desoldering. This will especially be important if you have large copper planes, such as ground, connected to one or more pins.

[@SoLCollectR]

Man you make it look so easy. I gave the most difficult time trying to clear the solder from the holes

[@goku445]

you tried adding more tin too?

[@mikechristy1840]

Thank you for this video. Desoldering is a bit intimidating to me after a few not so good attempts, but this helped. I also realized that flux helps as well and I was able to successfully remove some wires and clean the holes on a PCB just now without much issue.

[@colhany]

Unless you have a desoldering station, I think this is the best and fastest way to do it. I use this method because I don't have a desoldering station.

[@Prober61]

Completely opposite of what I have been doing for almost FORTY YEARS! Thank you!

[@starseeddeluxe]

Haha. Yeah, I've been soldering for 30 years, and had no idea that you could do this. It's so simple that you feel really silly knowing you never thought of it. I was sitting here dreading removing a capacitor, haha.

[@imqqmi]

Low melt solder to the rescue, that's a lot easier and less likely to damage and burn the pcb. Also works on very large pin counts and multi layer boards with large copper planes. A soldering iron with a large power/heat delivery capability is also handy in such cases (ie 200W in a large chunky copper tip with sensor as close to the tip as possible), to get the lead free solder to melt to get the low melt mixed in.

[@robert574]

Another "do the opposite of what I usually do including mess it up" instruction. This worked great. It would have never occurred to me although I do add solder trying to trying to get my solder wick to work better. I have a jar of flux now and I just lay the wick on top of the flux paste and press the tip of the iron on the wick to liquefy the flux and the wick soaks it up. Then it works much better. My solder wick always looks terrible and tarnished like I found it in the street somewhere. My system is similar to yours except when I get done the traces are gone and stuck to my solder wick. I just ordered a temp controlled iron to keep the heat down (from china). Hope it works ok.

[@yukayuyu3844]

My method is to remove the plastic part holding them together and then remove the pins one by one, heating them up and quickly pulling them out with tweezers. Quick and hassle-free, as long as you don't really care about ruining the part you're removing.

[@RobertFeranec]

I sometimes do that too - especially for some headers it is very simple to remove the plastic.

[@JeffGeerling]

I ended up going that route (pulling individual pins) on a rather expensive CO2 sensor that I had messed up... and ended up screwing up some of the pads, and had to toss it out. This method (bridging the pins with solder) would've probably worked better to save the component (and saved me a few bucks!).

[@zz3709]

This! One by one is there safest way to preserve the PCB.

[@KnaufL]

@@JeffGeerling that's because you're a software guy and should stay away from hardware 😛

[@GeneralHowToTutorials]

in my case I care very much about the part I am removing...

[@jbrrrrrrrrr]

Goddamnit I needed this last night when I was trying to remove a DPDT switch from a PCB and probably ruined the PCB as a result. THANK YOU for next time.

[@billglass5160]

Thank you for the advice. I will try it!! Up until now, I have separated each pin by cutting the plastic part and then individually removing each pin. I don't have much luck in cleaning the solder from the holes with the wick. I use a solder sucker on the bottom side while heating the top side.

[@timhofstetter5654]

Heat the joint, then tap the board against your bench. The solder has far more inertia than anything else, so when your board stops on contact with the bench, the solder continues on and flies off the board. Also... at times, a vacuum solder "sucker" can be very helpful. And... if you don't care about keeping the part you remove, it's often best to cut all its leads above the board. Then you can desolder them one at a time without wasting your expensive solder.

[@nedstar7378]

Excelent, it works great. I manage to desolder double 6 pins little pot meters without damaging the circuit board. You save my day, thanks for sharing. B.t.w I not used the clip.

[@Phazerville]

sometimes, less is more, but other times, more is more. such a perfectly succinct tutorial, thank you!

[@johnbos4637]

This is a good technique and works for small surface mounted parts too (flood with solder and heat with iron until the part is loose). This technique has been known for many years. For multi-layer PCBs this technique will definitely NOT work because the inside layers act like a heatsink and take the heat away from the part. You will use a full roll of solder and still get nowhere. Even with a dedicated powered desoldering tool you can not remove through-hole parts on a multi-layer PCB. Most of the pin holes can be cleared but the VCC and GND holes will remain blocked. The secret is to use some hot air to heat the PCB to about 150 degrees C first, then use the desoldering method of your choice and the part will come free much more easily.

[@Graham_Wideman]

I concur.

[@chetananam9141]

Excessive heating results in removal of the tracks & pads, resulting in a damaged pcb.

[@ideegeniali]

@@chetananam9141 150°C is safe for PCB, you can keep that preheat temp for many minutes. I preheat to 150 °C with hot air fountain from below the pcb. Once pcb is preheated, any soldering or desoldering becomes way easier and quick and very little thermal stress to pcb

[@chetananam9141]

@@ideegeniali nice to know that. Thanks!

[@brettmcclung8704]

Thank you so much brotha, man I would have ruined my lucky break to have come across the component I needed if I hadn't seen this, and it worked so surely and smooth 👍I was just about to start burning it until I used this method

[@3nertia]

Use flux instead, you'll save solder, save your solder wick, and save time AND mess :) It's worth investing in an Engineer SS-02 solder sucker - it's the only one I've found that actually works as it has a silicone tip that you can stick directly on the solder joint! Use the solder sucker first then grab the rest with solder wick/desoldering braid

[@abrahamalviarez5870]

simple, yet, extremely useful, I was wondering how to do this without the little vacum pen, now I can fix my xbox controller bumper button! thank you Robert!!

[@____________________________.x]

I am famous Chinese reseller of quality ICs, I use old washing machine heated by propane torch to remove everything from boards… 💁‍♂️ good business, much trust, very genuine… 😹

[@____________________________.x]

@VishaP-uu6zc no, look at reviews from family, all celebrate, many five stars. No returns

[@russbilzing5348]

I never thought of this simple method. Thank you.

[@OspreyLanthrax]

Thanks! I really needed to see this yesterday! Hopefully, now that I have seen this, I have more luck next time!

[@dobdoa3691]

Solder sucker works great and you don't waste solder. My experience of 40 years in electronics.

[@PatchworxStudios]

And now do it with 20 pins.

[@SwingMotor]

Same as 5 pin connector 😂😂

[@Faiver]

Buy desoldering gun 😅 ~10$ for simple iron with integrated manual suction pump and ~100$ for semi-professional fully automatic desoldering gun.

[@dylanm.3692]

​@Faiver I got a hot air gun for $13 on Amazon. But yeah, this method is good for small connectors.

[@WeiJian393]

this is way better than the other technique I saw.

[@casianfd]

Excellent!! Just what I needed - I was a bit stuck with one of my first soldering projects and now I am keen to go back and give it another try :)

[@kushlavr]

I foud this tip wery useful long time ago. First time I saw it in your 100 evry day hardware design tips. And also I test it on several kind of components (2 rows 40 pins IDE hard drive header -> easy peasy) Thanks!

[@RobertFeranec]

Yes, I mentioned this in some older videos. PS: I wanted to try my new microscope and this was a good topic

[@madGambol]

Very nice and simple way. Just had a problem removing a part and this should do it. Thanks.

[@RobertFeranec]

Hope it helps.

[@VeniceInventors]

Nice tips, I've been struggling with the wick, and one difference I noticed in your video is the presence of flux, whereas my desoldering wick is as dry as can be. Next time I need to clean through holes I'll try adding flux to the wick.

[@thedevilinthecircuit1414]

The brand name of the desoldering braid you use really matters. I've found only the name-brand braid to be reliable. The cheaper no-name stuff often does not work well at all, and I've even found some that was made from copper-plated aluminum wire. If you take the cheap route, you'll have a difficult time. Get the good stuff.

[@8180634]

Flux is your friend, use lots of flux. Clean it up when you're done with alcohol.

[@udance4ever]

​@@8180634do you need to clean up flux that is embedded in wicks that include it? what is the technique w alcohol exactly? do you just rub it in? I'm a noob to all this & have to take on all this over the wkd!

[@ZombieLincoln666]

I saw a recommendation to use wick made by “MC chemicals” that has flux in it

[@Frankaccino]

Having a game controller and trying to replace the joystick without any soldering wick or soldering gun has proven really hard to me. Hopefully this method will help me out! Thanks for such a wonderful video!

[@bogard84]

Holy cow, this is genius! I tend to enjoy gaming on Playstation and typically buy third party PS4 controllers and end up modding the tension spring in the L3 / R3 thumbsticks. Problem is desoldering them from the PCB is tricky and I, from time to time, tend to ruin the components. ...or the PCB, and this can get a tad pricey for me. Your method should be helpful to me!!

[@GuruPrasadCT]

Exactly For what i came

[@d2vmusic]

Thank you very much for this advice. I'm about to replace a soldered-in battery on an old Yamaha synthesiser so I'm gathering as much information as I can about PCB de-soldering. I have now ordered some braid as you have used here.

[@DereckRipjawSilva]

Works great! The problem with desoldering my pins is that the solder around the pin is oxidized and cannot transfer heat. Adding more solder to help spread heat around is a great solution!

[@Xerkies]

2:30 THANK YOU, ive had solder stuck in the hole and took a while trying to figure out how to get it out

[@jrinventormusic]

wow. that is awesome you just helped me so much thank you from NY!

[@RodHartzell]

Brilliant! I would have never thought of doing that. Thank you for sharing!

[@k.chriscaldwell4141]

Awesome. Great video. Sometimes the counter intuitive method-add more solder-is the way to go.

[@omarelmasri7749]

Thanks for the video, Robert! Was wondering if you could make a series on tools and some hardware tips. Would be really helpfull for beginners and hobbyist. Particularly when it's from a professional like you.

[@LiftoffLumberjack]

Thanks for the knowledge boost! Dropping a like and comment to help you rank higher in the KZbin search results.

[@rajendraharsora8006]

Well done bro your video is very helpful for me.I like your method.God bless you from India 🙏

[@davidklbecek827]

What can I say except you're a legend

[@icemanv16999]

Awesome tutorial. Finally desoldered small ARK connectors only accessible from the bottom of the PCB. Thanks :)

[@jimspc07]

I know someone who removed memory chips from a large mass array with a gas torch on the solder side and a screwdriver sliding down the chips on the top. Recovered hundreds in minutes. That was old days now simmilar is done with SMT and no one complains.

[@dragan143]

Oof. Wish I had looked up this video before I had attempted to desolder some pins like those in the video. I might have been able to salvage the pins. Great tip! Thank you for the video.

[@monivibes1]

Great video! Just a small suggestion: it would be super helpful if you could show how to desolder the remaining solder blobs on the header pins, like the ones visible at 1:33. Otherwise, awesome content

[@peterbigblock]

Great tip, will try this when desoldering switches today!

[@ciatangallaghe2485]

Used it. It worked. Brilliant sir

[@garyvanremortel5218]

A lot of the soderwick has flux skips ,so make sure your braid is fluxed well. I prefer a hand solder sucker or Hakko desoldering station.

[@8180634]

If you do this on more than rare occasion, get a desoldering gun. It's like a solder shop vac and removing that part, leaving clean holes, would take 10-20 seconds. There are many by different brands, I have both a zd-985 and 474A++ and both work very well (both from generic Chinese companies), we have a Hakko at work and Metcal makes one too. There are many to choose from, it's one of those thing that makes a not fun job almost fun.

[@collie737]

With magnification it shows me that I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. Great video 👍

[@xConundrumx]

Better way, use a piece of copper wire (single core) as a thermal transfer aid. Cut it to size and add it to the connector, add tin an it will ensure the heat spreads around. Best part, you can shape the wire to fit on more complicated pin layouts and still get the heat spread out evenly over all pins.

[@VndNvwYvvSvv]

Yep. Do you have any tips that would work on 2 very widely spaced, very long rows like an ESP32 Pico D4 / pico kit?

[@mikebruestle218]

Robert, You can put moldable clay or Play-Doh under your parts when soldering and using your camera. It will help keep them in the camera shot, and stuck to the table.

[@CogitoBcn]

Why should I put Plau-Doh under my parts? I don't even want to show my parts on camera! 🙄

[@ZombieLincoln666]

That’s clever. I hate using my cheap PCB holder

[@herr_kukuffs]

Hello Robert! Thanks for the great tip :) I use the same technique for such things! I would kindly add - sometimes I add some more flux on the tin-plugged hole before putting the copper wick and/or increase a bit the solder iron temperature. Most problematic it's the through-hole pad, which connected to the massive ground plane!

[@RobertFeranec]

Thank you Igor PS: Yes, that problematic pad is exactly a GND hole connected to plane. Great tip!

[@hammaadhussain9974]

Legit works like magic Slavs are true heroes

[@briandenley]

Excellent video. Exactly what I needed to do! Thanks!

[@jimdunleavypiano]

I would recommend using a solder sucker pump to remove components. Your method will work on a connector but not so good for components that might be damaged by heat.

[@spud3607]

Thank you, great tip! Everyday is a school day.

[@alphabeets]

Use desoldering braid that has flux embedded in it. If it does not come with it, add your own flux. Makes a BIG difference.

[@Jessica-dq7ng]

Thank you for this video! You helped me fix my baby monitor! 😊

[@johnbos4637]

For that connector, you could just heat the solder with iron and pull out the pins one-by-one with pliers. No need to add solder or even remove the plastic, just heat the pins and pull them out ;-) You should do some other desoldering tasks that are a bit more complicated. Especially techniques where the part needs to be kept in one piece and not damaged.

[@blueskky9996]

On smaller boards I put a towel on the edge of my workbench and then quickly but gently tap the board on the table after heating the solder to melting point. Another way I like is to use a dremel type tool with a cutting wheel to cut the legs on the component then can remove the pins one by one with pliers and soldering iron. I only do this on components that are no longer functional.

[@kacperbardecki3671]

Hero. Now I know to add more solder on stubborn holes and try again. Surface tension. 🤯

[@urbanaut100]

Brilliant - thanks for this it certainly makes the job very easy and it contradicts everything you're taught in college with solder suckered etc - thanks for posting!!❤

[@PerThomasJahr]

Thanks for very useful tips. But what is the cleaning solution with the brush at the end?

[@RobertFeranec]

I use KONTAKT PCC 200ML sk.farnell.com/kontakt-chemie/kontakt-pcc-200ml/cleaner-kontakt-pcc-200ml/dp/2142400

[@johnbos4637]

@Per Thomas Jahr Or use what most people use, IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol)

[@agoogleuser8492]

Your hand is so steady!

[@aaronunroe5267]

I just used this technique. 10/10

[@tannaautomation6527]

Very good demonstration

[@inguanara]

this tutorial was great, i really enjoyed it!

[@shimxininahi8024]

Multiple pin removal technique is great. I wonder how do you remove the ICU chips?

[@jayenoble2901]

Your a true craftsman good tips!

[@Thankz4sharing]

My ancient blue plastic Soldapult solder sucker still works fine. I could see using this alternate technique in rare cases, but certainly not for a five pin connector on a single layer board.

[@LetsgoBrandon0U812]

Hell yeah made my life a hell of a lot easier!

[@Demosophist]

You, sir, are a life saver!

[@jct4647]

I assume you used leaded solder? (I use leaded solder on unleaded solder connections to lower the temperature required to remove parts).

[@RobertFeranec]

Yes, that is correct - for hobby boards. However for products the lead free solder needs to be used, the technique would still work, just it is a little bit more difficult - higher temperature is needed.

[@friedmule5403]

Thanks, I may have another method. If you wind some copper wire around the tip of the soldering iron, just like you wind ground around a probe and make the copper wire be so long that it touches every pin, then can you remove any chip in one go. If you have pins on fore sides do you simply bend the wire to a square so it can touch all the pins at once. Hope it makes sense?

[@RobertFeranec]

Interesting. Thank you Fried

[@petruvrinceanu7060]

Intresting ideea. What temperature C° do you use to desolder all the pins?

[@marcmengel1]

Adding more solder to make desoldering easier -- it seems backwards, but it looks like it works... Thanks!

[@danielsatko-]

its because he mixed leaded solder to unleaded. leaded solder have lower melting point. also with multipin, this can transfer heat from iron to more area

[@ZeyadShaban-f2l]

WOW THIS WORKS LIKE CHARM, THANKS ALOOOT

[@Gengh13]

When I'm not in my bench with the desoldering iron, I also use this method. Sometimes I also do it this way because it's really fast.

[@kennethdante]

Thank you for the good techniques.

[@wools4538]

Thanks for making this video. Saved me from purchasing a new controller.

[@rickexe802]

this is so helpfull, thank you for tips to repare my broken keyboard

[@Alex-M0OOV]

Hi there, what would be a good brush for cleaning PCBs or what shoud I avoid?

[@andrewtrushinski3848]

Good video. Very clean work here.

[@ExplodingWaffle101]

Personally, I'm a bit of a sucker (hehe) for the Engineer SS-02 desoldering pump. It's miles better than the Chinese desoldering pumps you'll find, and not extortionately priced.

[@kesor6]

That piece of Japan is absolutely a joy to use! I keep trying to find a reason to pull it out and suck some pins.

[@AndrejaKostic]

Quite interesting! I too have the Engineer SS-02, but I'm not really happy with its performance. It feels really great in hand, and build quality is good. It really is a product which I want to love. On the other hand, I have very often difficulties with its tip clogging up, and being difficult to clean, clogging in such way, that the plunger is extremely difficult to press, and in general being a bit too small. There's a Chinese pump which is sold under various names, like Weller 7874B. It has wider tip opening, and tends to be much easier to clean, and clogs less. It can be also combined with silicone hoses, to give the seal which the Engineer one has. So I often tend to switch to that one, when the Engineer goes on strike.

[@tonewheel]

What is your ideal iron temperature for this application?

[@amratsingh5206]

Very good. As always.

[@RobertFeranec]

Thank you Amrat

[@markzalesky8632]

That worked! Very helpful video!

[@123decoeli]

Great demonstration. Thanks!

[@wiimancool1]

My go to method too! Good video.

[@nikscherer]

Very useful tip, thank you sir!!

[@Дмитрий_Алкогольевич]

Small stainless tubes are much more comfortable for a such operation. If you need clean hole, use toothpick with welder - make it hot and pull

[@zettkusanagi6322]

Thank you for this tip. I didnt think of adding more tin to heat them up better, way better heat trsnafer. ty

[@manolopidiong8659]

thank you for the TIP on desoldering..

[@ramezanifard]

Hi Robert. What did you use for cleaning the PCB after desoldering?

[@RobertFeranec]

I use KONTAKT PCC 200ML sk.farnell.com/kontakt-chemie/kontakt-pcc-200ml/cleaner-kontakt-pcc-200ml/dp/2142400

[@mikolaj8776]

What temperature have you used for wick copper wire in this case?

[@dru6809]

+1 on this

[@I-AM-FOREVER97]

Life saver!🏆

[@ArthurIslamRU]

Thanks 👍, Dear Robert! You're very Cool teacher

[@RobertFeranec]

Thank you Артур

[@ArthurIslamRU]

@@RobertFeranec You're welcome!