Soldered IC's - Arrgh

[+DrVenkman]

I picked up a Vader last night that looks as if it needs a new 6532 RIOT. Not a problem, I have spares. I've also got chicklet caps and voltage regulators, so I figured I'd just go ahead and replace those when I swapped out the RIOT. It was a cheap pickup so what the heck. Opened it up this morning and found my first Rev 16 board, so yay, no need to do the color saturation boost fix. But as soon as I looked at the chips, I see they're all soldered straight to the board. Damn it.

 

So before I set aside time to remove the old RIOT and install a new one (and probably install a socket while I'm at it), what's the best technique(s) to remove a 40-pin chip and clean out the holes? Go ahead and dumb it down for me - your preferred solder melt temp, whether you use a wick, solder sucker or both, etc. I don't think getting the old chip off will be too much trouble, but I hate the idea of trying to clean out so many holes without accidentally ruining one, or creating a solder bridge.

 

[zylon]

Dremel with very thin cutting wheel on the IC. Heat the pins top side and remove, then worry about clearing the holes. I just use a sucker on the bottom side.

Rev 16's are about 50/50 with soldered vs socketed IC's. Perks include: better color, and resistance to "frying" failure. They have an added timer IC. That is supposed to help with power on-reset failures, like you might encounter with a flaky power switch.

 

Rev 17 and 18 are all soldered IC boards and only found in vaders thus far. Incidentally, I am using one of those soldered Rev 16 vaders here at my work apartment.

Edited February 8, 2016 by zylon

[+save2600]

Dremelling can make a mess out of everything, including you and your shirt - so I prefer to snip the legs off of an I.C., then pull out one by one with a needle nose as you heat them up. Can use a wick or solder sucker to get a nice clean hole for your socket afterwards. Electronic side cutter like this one makes super short work of yanking soldered in chips:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-inch-Flush-Side-Cutting-Pliers-Platinum-Tools-Electronic-Gadget-Cat5-6-Snips-/161233742646?hash=item258a47ab36:g:xr4AAOxyirJSHgKb

 

[+DrVenkman]

Thanks guys - I have both a Dremel and snips. I will probably use the snips. Once I get the thing off, I'll just go slow, use a magnifier and solder sucker and take as long as it takes. I intend to solder in a precision socket after removal on the off-chance another RIOT fails on me. I gather that chip must be a "weak link" in the design, as I've managed to acquired two 4-switch units (one Woody and now this Vader) with failed 6532's in them when I got 'em. Sockets are less than $1.70 each so I'll probably order 10 or so from Jameco in the next couple weeks, along with a vice to let me work both sides of the board at once (heat on the component side, sucker on the back of the board).

[+save2600]

A vice would be nice, but I've gotten proficient at using my third hand forearm to hold stuff in place. I really should get a little vice for this kind of work someday. Already have the lighted magnifier.