Can I solder with a desoldering station?  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: sheiku
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 16, 2019, 09:01:36 pm
content: Hi to all,I have a stupid and simple question for you .I have no experience with de-soldering stations. I do some ( very rare) repairs with my bad and old soldering gun on some audio vintage amplifiers i have.I want to buy tomorrow an de-soldering gun, but i do not understand IF is possible to SOLDER also with his gun...I can afford (and find in my country - Romania something like ) ZD8915 and ZD8925 or ZD-915 ( what do you recommend from them..?On many shops and youtube videos i studied that problem but i do not find an answer. I saw also metal sharp tips "compatible " with many guns. This mean that i change the tip (with a hole) and put another sharp tip and i can use the gun as a soldering station?Can you enlighten me?Thank you

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 16, 2019, 09:58:24 pm
content: I have a ZD-985 and, yes, youcansolder with it. However, there are a couple of considerations.....1. (-ve) The geometry of the tip. The supplied tips have a hole up the middle and are not shaped with any sort of useful profile for applying heat in many soldering situations. (If you can get regular tip shapes that would fit, then this won't be an issue - as long as they are decent tips.)2. (-ve) Handpieces tend to be more bulky than straight irons. This, plus where the handle is built like a pistol grip (so you can activate the vacuum pump), means controlling the angle and movement of the tip will be more challenging.3. (+ve) They tend to have decent heating power (to deal with the cooling effect of the vacuum), so if you can get good thermal contact with the workpiece, they can help in soldering heat sucking jobs.There may be other points, but I haven't tried using mine "in anger" in this way.

author: Terry01
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 16, 2019, 10:20:00 pm
content: The simple answer is yes you "could" solder with a de-soldering gun.The tip will melt solder as it does before it sucks it up. You could use this in a proper pinch but I wouldn't recommend it as your main way of soldering.You'd be better with a decent solder station and one of the "big" blue and yellow solder suckers, they are awesome! Also a roll of decent solder wick.https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vacuum-De-solder-Gun-Desoldering-Pump-Solder-Sucker-Removal-Remover-TackleRDUK/254424750719?hash=item3b3ce59a7f:g:uwkAAOSw3ZhdIrEHhttps://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3m-Reel-of-2mm-Chem-Wik-Rosin-Solder-Wick-Desoldering-Soldering-Braid-2-x-1-5m/251475610011?epid=19021595474&hash=item3a8d1d499b:g:9YwAAOxydgZTI4-II have both and I never use the de-soldering gun for changing out the odd part or 2. I find the gun is only good when you have a load of stuff to de-solder, like stripping a board for parts or something on that scale.I use my FX-888 to heat the joint up, then the solder sucker to suck the joint out and finally the wick to clean up the pad. The solder sucker is quite big but man it cleans the joint out with 1 suck!If you don't do lots of de-soldering you'll regret getting the de-soldering gun pretty sharpish I would bet. I did, it's handy to have there on occasion but I for sure could get by without it.Just my advise though. You'll need to weigh up whether you "need" a de-soldering gun or would be better swapping your old soldering iron for a more up to date model. That is a whole other thread if you do decide to get a new iron....Good luck however you decide!

author: sheiku
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 16, 2019, 10:51:31 pm
content: I think Terry you have right..Maybe ( for just a hobby and some occasional work it is better to use a good soldering station and some tape as you told)But i have a question. in the past i bought and use something similar as the big blue sucking pump. But i canot used it properly because the tip was plastic, or i canot understand how to properly use.So 1) i warm with the soldering iron the joint2) i apply the plastic tip of the blue pump over the melted alloy. ( sorry for my English)BUT ..the pump tip is plastic and almost instantly the tip was damaged by high temperature..maybe one use and after that the pump was unusable..Any tips?Thank youPS What power should be the soldering station to be good in usual situations? Nothing special or very powerful..

author: janoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 16, 2019, 10:55:44 pm
content: I have a similar desoldering gun and while you could, in theory, solder with that, you really don't want to. Even a very cheap Chinese soldering iron (e.g. those KSGERs and similar) will do a much better job than trying to solder with one of these guns.Quote from: sheiku on December 16, 2019, 10:51:31 pmIf it melted then either your soldering iron temperature has been extremely high or it was made out of poor material. Normally it should be high temperature plastic or even teflon, that will certainly not melt easily. It will have some wear over time, though - that's normal.One of the best desoldering pumps I have ever used is the Engineer SS-02. That one has the tip made out of a short piece of flexible silicone tube, so it conforms to the joint really well, makes a good seal and thus sucks the solder out like there is no tomorrow. And when the tip finally wears out, you just cut a new piece of the tubing and push it on the nozzle. The only complaint is that it is a bit small for my large hands (I guess the Japanese techs are a bit smaller than me ...)https://www.amazon.com/Engineer-SS-02-Solder-Sucker/dp/B002MJMXD4As with everything - don't buy the cheapest junk or your will have to buy twice.

author: Terry01
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 17, 2019, 08:34:03 am
content: Quote from: sheiku on December 16, 2019, 10:51:31 pmI think you may have got one of the "normal" size solder suckers. Like these...https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Soldering-Iron-Removal-Desolver-Solder-Sucker-Desoldering-Pump-Tool-Vacuum-SF/362720083162?epid=2225324450&hash=item5473cd3cda:g:pKgAAOSwefldSjDHThese like Janoc says "these are cheap junk" and no use.I have the big blue and yellow one and although it will melt if you really try to melt it, if you use it correctly it will last a long time and not melt to the point you can't use it. I sometimes cut it down a little after a few uses and it is more of a tighter fit to the solder joints. You can also buy spare tips for this.I also have no doubt the Engineer branded one Janoc suggests will do the job too. I have a few Engineer brand tools and they are all quality products. This is the sucker Janoc suggests, I haven't used this tool myself....https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/silicone-tip-SOLDER-SUCKER-PUMP-remover-desoldering-tool-Japanese-Engineer-SS-02/252020536679?epid=19034189357&hash=item3aad983567:g:iH0AAOSwgTJbJEeaWith either of these suckers I will have my iron around 250-280 degrees Celsius depending what I am doing, even a little more or less if the job dictates it. I heat the joint up, usually only takes a few seconds, when the solder is molten and in a liquid state keep the iron on the joint and cover the pin with the tip of the sucker and pull the trigger. Make sure once the solder is molten the iron is placed so you can get the sucker right over the joint and it'll suck the solder right out of there. It doesn't need to be an airtight fit, just as close to that as you can get does fine. Mind and cock the sucker before you start!Some times there is a small film of solder still holding the part in place, since most of the solder is out of there a quick touch with the iron as you pull the part does the job. The whole sucking process should only take a few seconds max. I am sure if you look on YouTube there will be videos on de-soldering.Use your common sense as to when the part will be cool enough to touch after de-soldering etc.Let us know how you decide and then how you get on with whatever choice you end up with.

author: sheiku
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 17, 2019, 12:55:55 pm
content: Thank you all for the responses..I bought or ordered the following tools. Please see the attached images. The Gordak unit i will receive tomorrow . It is 60W.I do not find the Engineer SS-02 in my country. Hope it is decent what i bought from Pros'KitMust to remember the use of them from my youth..And also must to remember how to use again an digital multi meter for my amplifiers repairing and detecting defective components....Thank you all again

author: glinjik
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 18, 2019, 05:55:38 am
content: i have this gootwick brand solder wick it is next to useless i found if you pour a bit of flux fuid into it it works just great