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solder. Remove the soldering iron, but let the toothpick remain in the hole until the solder
has solidified. Now remove the toothpick. There should be a hole through the solder
sufficiently large to allow you to insert the component lead or wire.
Sometimes, a bit of the toothpick will break off in the hole. If this happens, use a stiff
piece of wire to push the toothpick fragment out of the hole.
Appendix 2: First Class De-soldering
De-soldering can be easy if you have the right tools. Through the years, I’ve used a
number of “make-do” methods:
The toothpick trick – not bad for clearing a hole if the diameter is big enough.
Sold-a-pult- these spring loaded, one shot solder vacuums are a step in the right
direction, but can’t supply both heat and vacuum action simultaneously. Some
people cut a v-shaped hole in the tip to poke the soldering iron through, but it’s
still a bit hit or miss, and frustrating.
Solder wick- this is copper braid that you heat up in connection with the joint. The
idea is that the solder wicks into the copper braid, away from the joint. It’s still
slow and frustrating, and takes so much heat that you worry about the board.
At some point, you’ll decide that you deserve a better way to desolder, and you’ll buy a
heat source with a built in continuous vacuum pump. Big industrial units can cost many
hundreds of dollars. Here’s the best value I’ve found so far, the Hakko 808. I bought
mine for about $180, and it’s worth every penny. Often when I de-solder components, the
action is so clean that they just fall out of the board.
Once you’ve treated yourself to a real de-soldering tool like the Hakko 808, you’ll
wonder why you waited so long.
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