What I learned today: Flux is awesome!

[daveg360]

An ink eraser is handy for clean pcb traces

[Onions]

P.S. I won't start a whole new thread for this but also buy desoldering braid. It comes in very handy as well.

   

I prefer a de-solder pump. They are really quick and easy, and can clear large blobs almost immediately. And they are re-usable, so you do not have to keep buying more!

[macegr]

Not useful for surface mount, though. Can't get a good seal to the edge of an IC and with some huge thing jumping around next to fragile pins you're going to break something.

Desoldering braid is definitely a must-have. When you need it, you NEED it.

[Daanii]

Desoldering braid is definitely a must-have. When you need it, you NEED it.

That's probably true. If you do a lot of soldering, you should have some braid.

And I do have some braid. But I've never used it. Never needed it. I do, on the other hand, use my "solder sucker" bulb pretty much every time I solder. It's a very handy device. I would never solder without it.

I might mention, too, that I never have attempted to solder a surface mount device. Probably never will. As noted, I suspect braid would be much better for that.

[macegr]

Right....I have never used desoldering braid on through hole parts either. I do grab the soldapult for those. It's not in the NEED zone, but most times is easier than whacking the PCB on the bench while melting the solder.

[rocketgeek]

One note about the water-washable flux:

1) You *MUST* wash it off -- it's a lot more corrosive than the Rosin or No-Clean types
2) You need hot water to fully get it off. I use a cheapo Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaner with built-in heat and it works really well for the purpose.

Personally, I prefer it because the higher activity makes better joints.