I am trying to desolder the headers on my arduino (seeduino, actually) in order to create a lower profile board.
I consider myself fairly competent at soldering, but I am having a really hard time with the desoldering process. I have a mid-range temperature controlled iron, a solder sucker, braid, and flux. I have tried adding more solder to the joints (in order to get better heat transfer) before sucking, but I just can't seem to suck up enough of the solder to get the job done. And worse, I have inadvertently pulled up some of the pads.
I'm just wondering if anyone out there has any tips or tricks that I could try. I think that using a hot-air station or chip quik might be my best option (so that I can heat up all the pins simultaneously, and then pull the header off). I haven't invested in either of those options yet, though.
This is going to be really tough. Hot air and chip-quick or low-melt (same stuff really) will be helpful.
Braid is much better than a solder sucker IMHO. You can never have enough flux.
If you've already pulled up some pads you might want to quit while you're only a little bit behind. Once pads start lifting the board is quickly on its way to the trash.
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The Gadget Shield: accelerometer, RGB LED, IR transmit/receive, speaker, microphone, light sensor, potentiometer, pushbuttons
I bought some Chip quick low temperature solder. That allowed me to heat up all the pins simultaneously and pull the headers off while the solder was still molten. I then used to solder wick to clean up the excess solder left behind. All in all this solution worked quite nicely.
I agree with CrossRoads. If you're removing components you don't want and trying to keep a working PCB, it is generally better to cut your component into tiny pieces and remove it one lead at a time. Which is entirely different than when you want to remove working components and don't care about the board...
Another vote for CrossRoads' method. I removed the headers from an Duemilanove clone by first taking pliers and pulling off the black plastic shield, leaving a bunch of fork-like metal prongs. Just desolder each of them individually, and they will slide right back into the plastic header when you're done. Just make sure you firmly push them all back in, then you can keep using the headers in another project.
After struggling for about an hour using solder wick I came here, tried the pliers and they worked great! Thanks coreyker for posting this question and to CrossRoads for your solution.
When people pull the plastic off with pliers is it coming off "cleanly", in one piece, or are you breaking it off in pieces? I just tried it on a broken Arduino and it wasn't coming off, with a lot of force. I need to remove some Arduino Due headers, so I want to know more before I risk breaking anything.
Tested seconds ago: Push against the header with your hand to make it lean. That'll make the contact go out of the plastic header. Then you can unsolder the contacts one by one before putting them back to the plastic thing.
Kind of dirt way, but you should not damage the board not the header that way.
If one is removing female headers, then rip off the plastic and don't be concerned about reusing them. Then the individual pins can be unsoldered. That was the discussion back in June 2011. Not male headers.
Gremlin460:
3 years on from the last post and I would like to ask the question...
Has there been a better way of removing headers?
I have a brand new mega and wish to remove all headers from the top of the board and replace with extra long pins under the board.
Cheers.. Mike.
Flip it over, and put a big old blob of solder on to melt all the pins ad try to push it down and out. After that clean up the blob with braid and a solder sucker.
Unless you have a vacuum desoldering station (the cheap plunger suckers will not cut it) there is no good way other than that.
Grab the black plastic cover over the sockets with a pair of serrated slip jaw pliers. Rock the plastic cover side to side by about 10-15 degrees total travel to loosen it. Position the pliers so they only grip about the top 2-3mm of the connector (no pins up there). Pull straight up and off the female pins underneath.
Heat each pin individually and remove with pliers or tweezers. Clean out holes by your desired method. Wick, smack the board, whatever - anything but a spring loaded solder sucker, those things will destroy a board in seconds.
The plastic can be lifted off the pins with a bit of gentle force.
Then the pins can be removed individually.
I clean vias with a temp controlled iron and solder sucker, but you need to be quick/experienced for that.
An old trick that might work for you is with a mechanical pencil.
Push the carbon rod through the molten solder, and it will leave a clean hole.
@dougp
Removing smd parts with a poker and a lot of flux is a crude and messy way to do things.
Better invest in a hot air rework station.
Leo..
Wawa:
Removing smd parts with a poker and a lot of flux is a crude and messy way to do things.
Better invest in a hot air rework station.
There was no stinting flux, that's for sure. It's OK for a one off but I certainly wouldn't want to do it on a regular basis! Cleaned up real nice, though.