I bought a cell phone in China (read chinese iphone), that despite the operational system is awful, when I opened to check the hardware and I found a not so bad hardware. I was able to extract microphone, motor, speaker and other interesting things. However there is an ARM processor that I couldn't remove. I'm a computer scientist (I had basic EE in the univeristy) and hobbyist. I'm able to extract components, when there is a solder to melt, but I never played with SMD. I found this tool, but there is any other way to do it?
Electronic – extract components from SMD
componentspcb-assemblysurface-mount
Best Answer
What you want is a Hot air rework station:
This uses a gentle stream of hot air (soldering iron temperature) to melt the solder and release the components. Also, a "hot plate" can be beneficial when working with such components as BGA chips:
Failing that, put it in the oven face down and let the components fall off. (may not work depending on component size - the surface tension of the solder may well hold them in place).