I know "solder won't melt" is a pretty common issue, but after hours of research online I don't know what else to try. I've attached a couple pics to hopefully help.
Scenario:
I'm repairing some handheld Motorola radios. There is an audio jack with a casing that is soldered to the ground-plane of the PCB using 4 pins and the audio jack itself is using several other pins. The audio jack itself cam off fairly easily. I cut the metal casing off to just nubs so that it wouldn't dissipate so much heat, however I still cannot get those nubs solder to melt.
What I've tried:
- Multiple solder tips – currently using biggest/fattest I can practically use.
- Adding lots of flux
- Adding solder to the nubs – I can add, but it doesn't mix with the old.
- Using multiple solder irons on both sides of the PCB.
- Using pin-point hot air in conjunction with the iron
- Higher iron heat – Up to 400+ degrees C
- Preheating PCB to about 100C
- Used Solder Wick, Solder Sucker, and Solder Vacuum.
The the regular pic I've circled the joints I'm referring to – all the brown is just flux on the board. I've not damaged the board in any way that I can tell.
The other pic is from a thermal camera and is circled where those joints are, roughly.
Can anyone provide any other ideas/techniques to try? I've run out of ideas.
Thanks so much!
EDIT:
Sorry for my late response to everyone – I didn't realize so many people had replied. I didn't get any notifications of it – so sorry about that.
I'm currently using an X-Tronic 5040-XTS-XR3 soldering station and a METCAL SP200 soldering iron. Neither one of them, nor both of them together, have been able to melt the solder – hence my original post.But like I said, my biggest tip is a 2.4mm.
The X-Tronic seems like a generic brand, but maybe I'm wrong? I can't find any larger tips for it – but maybe it's a generic/universal style tip? I'm not incredibly familiar with soldering equipment – I'm still learning.
The SP200 is pretty old, but seems to work well for other projects. But I think it is auto-adjusting. There is no manual adjustments for it.
Do any of you feel like either of these products are sufficient?
Thank you all for your input!
Best Answer
This will take:
A 100W soldering iron set to 800F or 430C.
60-40 solder with rosin core.
Liquid activated rosin flux in a suitable dispenser ("dropper" or flux pen).
Douse the nibs in flux. Apply solder, ensure it starts to wick into the hole, or at least forms a meniscus as if you were soldering those pins in place. Then pull from the other side using small side cutters or pliers. The idea is to minimize the contact area between the pulling tool and the pin, so small side cutters work well for that. Really small: blade length of 5-8mm.
As long as you have good contact from the tip through a well fluxed fresh solder to the pins/nibs, removal will be trivial. None of the preheating and other diversions are necessary. This will work, and it will work first time if done right.