Desolder braid

[PhilC]

Hi all,

Can someone please recommend a good but not too expensive solder braid. The cheap stuff I ordered from Amazon is literally that, cheap and not very effective.

Thanks

[exxos]

It's not cheap unfortunately :( I think I spent about £20 or thereabouts on my last role..

Problem with most of it is it is supposed to be fluxed, but generally it seemed like it isn't. The stuff without flux is basically useless, unless you add flux separately via a syringe which is generally what I end up doing.

I cannot recommend any currently, but pretty much anything will probably work if you add your own flux.

[PhilC]

Yeah that's what I'm having to do at the moment, will probably try getting some MG Chemicals fluxed stuff and see. Only got 2 hands is the problem.

[Icky]

I can never get on with braid. During the STF remake i have been doing a lot of desoldering of a donor STFM. I have been using a desolder pump that has a flexible pipe on the end which seals over the iron and area being heated. It pulls a lot of the solder out on the first go.

[PhilC]

Can you post a link to it please Icky, I do use Desoldering pumps but mine are well past worn out.

[exxos]

This is how I end up doing it...

[PhilC]

First difference i noticed is you use a paste like flux. The one i use evaporates too quickly.

What wattage iron is that? And out of interest what temperature is it set to for Desoldering?

[exxos]

First difference i noticed is you use a paste like flux. The one i use evaporates too quickly.

Ah yep, I have a "flux pen" which does that, think it has a lot of IPA in it or something. I use that for CPU work/soldering etc mostly. When desoldering, full mess all the way.

What wattage iron is that? And out of interest what temperature is it set to for Desoldering?

Mine goes to 450c which I mostly use.. but my tip is to small for desoldering really anyway. It burns the flux off quick, so I end up using more... should really order a larger tip and use 400c really... Really need more like a screwdriver tip for desoldering stuff like in my video.

I do have a proper de-soldering station, it can blow the solder out of the holes, bit messy, but works well in most cases.

[PhilC]

You're not wrong, a larger tip is so much better for Desoldering.

I have some paste flux somewhere, will try it this weekend.

[tzok]

You should really forget about desoldering braid and desoldering pumps and get into the desoldering station, like ZD-915. Comfort of working with this is incomparable. For cleaning the pads you may still use the braid, together with RMA7 gel flux.