Soldering/Desoldering Frustration (Help Needed!)

[Painaxl]

Hi all,

Allright, so I've got a MV-1F with the VRAM error that indicates that they both need to be replaced. I've also got a monitor that really needs a cap kit (WGk7906).

After being told that soldering was easy once you got the hang of it, I picked up some supplies. An iron, desoldering braid, a pump and some tinner/cleaner stuff. I'm practicing on a Combatribes board (which has the RAMs I need, no less).

Following a week of frustration of not being able to get any ICs out (I think I was able to get out 2 caps), I bought a Weller soldering station from Ebay (I was told that the crappy iron I was using might have something to do with my problem). Trying my new iron didn't really help me and I still can't get these pins out. I'm also worried that I won't be able to solder in the chips and the caps. I've gotten lots of help from various sources and read well over a dozen "how to solder" tutorials on the web. I just can't seem to get the pins clean enough to get out using either the braid or the pump (I can get maybe 8 or 9 pins on a 28-pin IC).

I'm running out of hair to pull out and I need help. Any ideas on what I could be doing wrong? Better yet, is there anyone in the Cleveland, OH area that would do this for me (I'd pay, obviously) or show me what I'm doing wrong? Let me know.

Thanks,
Matt

 

[Tiptonium]

I generally use this simple, low tech method to reomve ICs from various electronic PCBs. The pump pictured can be purchased at Radio Shack for under $10. It has a hot tip. The desolder braid can also be picked up at Radio Shack. The process can be slow but it works with great results. Generally, you don't even have to have the tip touch the desolder braid, just hover it closely over the braid/IC pin. The solder is sucked up by the braid.

<img src="http://www.tiptonium.com/stuff/ezdesoldermethod.jpg" alt=" - " />

 

[Painaxl]

Tiptonium
[QB] I generally use this simple, low tech method to reomve ICs from various electronic PCBs. The pump pictured can be purchased at Radio Shack for under $10. It has a hot tip. The desolder braid can also be picked up at Radio Shack. The process can be slow but it works with great results. Generally, you don't even have to have the tip touch the desolder braid, just hover it closely over the braid/IC pin. The solder is sucked up by the braid.

Thanks for the tip (and the picture). One thing I don't get though... Why do you use the pump to heat up the braid? Why not just the regular iron? I've considered getting that pump but I didn't know how well it'd work. When I used the braid, I was worried since the copper would get sort of stuck to the pads. I also heard that it heats up the chips too much. Let me know.

Thanks again for your advice.

 

[Tiptonium]

The desolder gun has a hollow tip. That makes all the difference. You don't need the pump feature if you use braid.

 

[mog]

I've found that a cheap ass Radioshack solder sucker works well too. Push in pin on sucker, heat up solder, put sucker directly on solder and press button. That gets it out perfectly most of the time.

 

[Nightmare Tony]

hate to say, but the Neo Geo is a multiple plane board with thew power runs in between the layers. Makes it a ^%$&^%$&^%$ to solder or unsolder using hand tools. I just purchased a Hakko desoldering unit ($700, worth every penny).

I seriously do NOT recommend working ont he Neo Geo until you are able to desolder a lot of other chips off the Combatribes. Practice on the rest of that board since its now considered a junk board...