Tips of the Trade: Clearing Solder out of a Through Hole

Tips of the trade: Clearing solder out of a through hole
President of #EastEndAssemblies Ray Novara shows a tip for simplifying clearing solder out of through hole in your computer board. Any tips you're looking for specifically? Contact us at: eastendassemblies.com/contact/
#computerboard #longislandbusiness #designformanufacture #designformanufactureandassembly #designformanufacturing #throughhole #solder #soldering

[@randybryson5519]

You are a magician! Awesome. I used to build 9 layer boards for the IC industry for testing ICs and you have a great technique and process.

[@eastendassemblies9742]

thank you!!

[@eastendassemblies9742]

glad to help!

[@xboxflashing-serv2327]

Would love to see another episode removing ICs or other through hole components where solder removal is stubborn. Even with a desoldering rig.Thanks for this!

[@SpinStar1956]

Have a cert for mil-std soldering and have worked many mil-avionics boards. An actual better technique with less heating and repeat-heating is to use finely stranded silver plated wire (usually found on teflon and available if you look; esp. mil stuff). By first lightly tinning the very front of the stranded wire, (without excessive wicking) then trimming to leave just a small solid tip, you can then saturate the reset of the strands behind with a good grade f flux; make sure to leave the insulation on the help keep the strands stiff and aligned. Then, you place your tinned iron on the pad, then follow with the wire atop the hole and apply heat now to the wire. The outside will soften and allow you to push it through the hole before the center of the wire softens and gives way. Finally, shove the stranded wire in about 3/8" slowly then immediately pull back up. This may sound like a lot but yu will quickly get the hang of it and only subject the pad/hole to 1/3 the amount of heat and stress. The fluxed-stranded o(and silver-plated) wire is so-so much better at sucking up the solder...

[@TortureBot]

Great information. Kind of wish the camera operator would have zoomed in a little closer because I am on a mobile phone right now, but I will look at it on a larger screen when I get to one.

[@DeShark88]

I'm looking at my own board on high mag, but I can't see the corner of the via either.

[@blugoose86]

Thanks for the tip. I can't tell you how many pads I've lifted over the years. I now use a very small pointed tip and some steel wool on the opposite side of the hole. Your tip is a lot better, less chance of damage, and a whole lot easier. Going to do it your way from now on. TNX again.

[@saywhat52]

Thanks James glad It helped. I have seen some other good suggestions here also. Including the toothpic trick which will work in most cases.

[@captango]

Don't forget to apply flux onto your wick before using it . 🇬🇧

[@darrenwilkinson1742]

Thanks so much, I’ve been struggling hard with exactly this problem. I was so close, all I was missing was a piece of wire! That’s the difference between having the gear and knowing the tricks. Thank you

[@emmettturner9452]

I fought with my cheap desolder station from 2016-2022 before discovering the necessary trick for power and ground planes. Pinch the hose, hold the trigger, then jerk the hose open to get a stronger solder pull. When I don’t do that on power and ground planes the vacuum motor will spool up too slowly and will only remove solder from one side. That’s because the solder on the tip side comes out while the motor is still spooling up, breaking my air seal and heat bridge before suction builds enough to pull solder from the component side… which has consistently solidified a fraction of a second too soon. With the trick I get an instant full-strength pull when everything is still molten and sealed against the desolder tip. Someday I’ll rewire the trigger to a solenoid and abuse the station’s fume extractor function so that I don’t have to pinch anymore.

[@josebiro]

You sir, are my hero. Great video and even better advice.

[@saywhat52]

glad I can help

[@marvinperez3314]

Number one video on Sodering thanks for sharing 😎 👍

[@den0matic]

Great tutorial. Thank you.

[@MsFireboy2]

Thank you for sharing. I have used compressed air in a can too to blow the solder out.

[@kingforaday8725]

I'll have to give this a try!

[@NosEL34]

Good video. I've lifted pcb contacts while struggling with this issue in the past.

[@MrWaalkman]

Great tip! Thanks!

[@jluke6861]

Thank you for the great video.

[@TravisTellsTruths]

Excellent video!!

[@olivierdeplanques708]

thanks for this advice...

[@eastendassemblies9742]

You're Welcome

[@plinker439]

Very nice, thank you.

[@mat.b.]

Thanks for this. I dont have anything to heat the board to 200*F, but did try using the lead of a resistor to push through, and on the way out used a wick to absorb what was there. It helped get me out of a jam I was in for several hours after my desolder station didn't want to suck out whatever was blocking it. Ground on a multi layer board like you said happens.

[@saywhat52]

Try using a heat gun if you don't have a heater you can at least do one lead at a time

[@daveb3910]

Hair dryer, oven, toaster, a pan heated up in the oven, other creative solutions, you'll figure it out

[@paulmichaelfreedman8334]

Another trick is to rebore the hole with a pcb drill.

[@JohnHill-qo3hb]

An interesting technique, I do something similar without all the pro gear, I will include solder wick next time. I think you have a very interesting channel about board repair, if I may, I'd like to suggest that you get some better camera equipment for close up videoing so we can see exactly what you are doing. Your description on this occasion was excellent but I fear when a repair that has a more complex procedure will not be as clear in spite of the excellent verbal description. Subbed.

[@johnmcgiv1]

Brilliant thats all I can say, many thanks.

[@MrRepeters]

Great Info!

[@simoncroft9792]

Rather than a toothpick , what can also work is a pencil lead. The 0.5mm automatic pencil leads may be worth trying too.

[@charlesharkin2165]

I use compressed air gun on one side apply pointed iron on other side apply air pull iron away first works fine for me. A small o ring fixed or glued to airgun helps seal air against the board . Warning eye safety wear is a must

[@ZichaelJackson]

helped me out of a jam replacing an hdmi on ps5. solder sucker would not work. i didn't use solder wick. i didn't have bus wire so i stripped a few strands of cat 6. used a wagner furno 750 heat gun since the 500 watt heatgun rework station was useless. pushed the cat 6 trough the hole, cut off the portion below that was covered with solder, and continued that process until the holes were clean enough to drop in the new hdmi port.

[@eastendassemblies9742]

That's excellent to know! we would love to see your work! Email us!

[@PaulG.x]

For small boards I use inertial displacement desoldering. It works very well where there are components in place

[@user-xt2wv5rs4g]

Thank You

[@nathanrice1796]

Very interesting.

[@orion310591RS]

Just melt solder with soldering iron, and put wooden tooth pick in hole. You cant make any damage with toothpick, yet you clear hole by pushing solder away.

[@swifdy6855]

I just started punching the air so hard reading this

[@MrMalam1234]

Damn that's clever

[@orion310591RS]

@@MrMalam1234 Thank you, but just stop over complicating things, dont use items that can stick to tin (metal) and use wood. Simple solutions are around us.

[@orion310591RS]

@@swifdy6855 You mean compressed air or? I didnt understood.

[@kingforaday8725]

Nice tip I will give the technique a try but I dont have a board heater.

[@Bianchi77]

Nice video, thanks :)

[@Pilotkosinus]

thanks i will try that.

[@WestW3st]

do you have anything that can take.me back to before I fried part of my PC and then I can learn this first? thanks in advance

[@hans-jo666]

What magnifying Light Lens did you use?

[@arteta53]

im gonna try your method :).

[@saywhat52]

Let me know how you make out. If you have a problem give me a call

[@ronjones4069]

was that a heater below the board? Will this method work if we don't have that fancy heater? Thanks.

[@kingforaday8725]

My thoughts exactly!

[@douglas9607]

An elementary question . . . is there a specific reason that you preheat the board? Less likely to crack?

[@Bobo-ox7fj]

It also means you don't need to apply intense heat for as long, and you always want to minimise iron contact time with sensitive components or old boards.

[@douglas9607]

@@Bobo-ox7fj Check. Thanks with a sub/likie

[@davidfalconer8913]

A stainless steel dentist's pick often works for the bigger holes ( tried - n - tested ) ........ DAVE™🛑

[@daviddorsey8754]

What kind of light are you using?

[@martinkuliza]

WHITE LIGHT LMFAO These things are called L.E.D. Magnifier Lamp You can get them with DESK CLAMP You can get them DIMMABLE or NON DIMMABLE (which really means there are 2 or 3 brightness settings)

[@daviddorsey8754]

@@martinkuliza I meant who manufactured that light

[@martinkuliza]

@@daviddorsey8754 well then 1. that's not what you said 2. you should get into the habit of saying what you mean. TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION These magnifier lamps can come from hundreds of manufacturer. Personally i don't think it's important to know that info, unless you have a good reason for it I think the important part is 1. that you have good Magnification on it. 2. that you have at least 2 light levels and off You can find them relatively cheap at good quality

[@daviddorsey8754]

@@martinkuliza Thank You.

[@martinkuliza]

@@daviddorsey8754 You're welcome These lights are very very common. sometimes they don't have a manufacturer. and i doubt that anyone pays attention to that factor when buying it there are 4 thing that come into play when you buy this - the magnification (but.. it's just a piece of glass, so it's not like something is gonna go wrong) - The light itself (not much can go wrong here - The response of the flexible arm (which has nothing to do with the manufacturer) - the way it mounts so as you can see, if you want to get a good one, WHICH MANUFATURER has no bearing on the decision

[@cozuu9190]

Why's this dude look like Jane's dad from breaking bad

[@becomematrix]

I flux it and wick it 👍🏼

[@stickyfox]

If you can't get solder out with braid, it's likely you haven't used flux or you're not putting heat in the correct location to draw the solder out.

[@gordonwelcher9598]

I have seen desoldering braid without flux. You have to add your own. I bought it from the cheap local electronics store.

[@Bobo-ox7fj]

​@@gordonwelcher9598The local chain electronics stores only sell wick labelled "soder wick" with no flux. Fortunately they also stock bottles of liquid flux and needle applicators.

[@lobuxracer]

Wow. This is primitive. Any decent soldering workstation includes a vacuum powered solder sucker that makes this task a complete no-brainer. I got certified for avionics soldering in 1983 at Keesler AFB when I was a full time bench technician, and I can't believe this is even considered a good option when there are so many better tools to do this same thing with ZERO damage to the board or the runs. This is like using a mechanical wire stripper when a thermal stripper is head and shoulders better than any sharp cutting tool for stripping wires, especially when the insulation is Teflon as it is on all modern aircraft.

[@aviandragon1390]

So your solution is to spend 10 minutes cleaning a solder sucker over a 2 minute job because you don't want to look primitive sticking some junk wire through a hole?

[@RobCCTV]

Very good tip... but engineers all over the world are irritated by the use of that obsolete temperature scale 'Farenheit'. Come on America, GET METRIC.

[@Mikere5]

What's farenheight? The entire world, except for one country, uses Celcius! Get with the program.

[@tcarney57]

And that one country has the largest economy in the world, has put men on the moon, and still leads in the development and production of technology. Maybe *you* should get with the "program." Anyway, if you think the units of measurement commonly used in a country matters, then you're a fool. In reality, Americans use *both* traditional imperial *and* SI units. I use them interchangeably myself (I convert °F to °C in my head, for instance). You only use one system, and in your case you can't even spell the units properly. The words are _Fahrenheit_ (named after the _German_ who created the scale) and _Celsius_ .

[@Mikere5]

@@tcarney57 Whatever, keep thinking you're the best.

[@tcarney57]

@@Mikere5 There is no "best," neither the United States or any other country. The whole idea is juvenile, though I admit there are a lot of stupid Americans who think that way. In this conversation, you were the only one implying relative value--some nonsense about the superiority of a mere measuring system. It's like saying one national language is better than another.

[@TortureBot]

Why do people have to keep arguing about this? Hell, if all we had was 10 notches on an adjustment knob, as long as you know the right notch to turn the heat setting to, everything will work out just fine. It's like measuring to build a house with a stick. If you used the same notches of a certain length stick when you're building, everything's going to come out just fine. You just have to make sure everyone's referencing the right notch @Mikere5

[@Mikere5]

@@TortureBot Because when someone says "it's 85 degrees" NOBODY in the entire world, except 'merica, has any clue what that means!

[@mickodrobinski79]

Thank you captain obvious. We all knew this so u didn't really help

[@tcarney57]

No, _we_ didn't, Colonel Jerque.

[@Don.Challenger]

@mickodrobinski79: Hmm, nice to see you trying to be helpful yourself.