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Donkey Kong XM Pre-order and demo


tep392

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  • 2 weeks later...

The holdup is I've been super busy at work. I'm still working on desoldering boards, which is crazy time consuming. Sorry for the delay. I appreciate everyones patience. I'm sure I will be able to have all the carts built and under your tree by Christmas. :)

 

What method are you using for desoldering? One quick method I've heard of is to use a heat gun on the solder side until the solder joints are molten and then give the board a whack to allow inertia to send the components flying out of the board. I've never tried this method so I can't vouch for it, but it seems like it would work.

 

Another quick method, which is only useful if you don't need to save the components you are removing, is to clip all the legs with a pair of small flush cutters, and then use tweezers plus your soldering iron to remove each severed leg from the holes (or just quickly suck each one up, along with its accompanying solder, into a solder sucker).

 

I used to work in a PCB factory, and sometimes I'd have to desolder boards containing 100 terminal blocks with 4 legs each (400 solder joints). The terminal blocks were to be reused so no cutting was allowed (it wouldn't have been possible with these terminal blocks anyway). Each station had a Metcal desoldering gun, like this, but most people didn't bother with it. We used our solder suckers (Edsyn Soldapullt DS017, or DS017LS, or AS196; not all "solder suckers" are created equal, the fullsize Edsyn Soldapullts that I listed are the real deal).

 

I could desolder one of those 400-joint board in about 10 minutes. It just takes practice, and having a Metcal iron and an Edsyn solder sucker helps too. The Metcal iron helps because the RM3E handpiece is so slim and ergonomic, with a very short grip-to-tip distance, making it easy to quickly and precisely maneuver, and the Metcal irons have such a fast recovery time that no one is fast enough to outrun one.

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I wish I had a professional desoldering tool, but this is all I have available. So here are the problems I run into.

 

1) The old solder does not like to come out very easily. The desoldering tool works well on 80% of the pins, but there are some that it just won't pull the solder out of. The tool is very hot and melts the solder in about 1 second, so I think the problem is the solder. I have to resolder these trouble holes, and then remove the solder again. This usually works, but some time repeated attempts are necessary.

 

2) Even when the solder is fully removed, the chips don't just drop out. This is because the pins on these DIP's are angled and in contact with the edge of the holes. It's differenct for blocks that have pins coming strait out of the bottom. There is always a small film of solder between the pin and hole that acts like glue. I have to press each pin strait with my soldering iron to detach it from the hole. After all this work, they will come out without too much force.

 

I've tried cutting the pins with a side cutter, but the legs of the chip are wide and there isn't much room to get the cutter in.

 

If someone has a good desoldering station, and wants to lend it too me, please PM me. I'll take great care with it and return it with a free copy of DK XM. :)post-24519-0-03147400-1385568752_thumb.jpg

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An Edsyn Soldapullt DS017 is only about $17 - link. These are the industry standard for commercial manual solder suckers. They are manually operated, but they are all you need. As I mentioned earlier, these are what everyone used for rework in the PCB factory I used to work in. We had very expensive (~$800) Metcal desoldering stations available too, but very few people ever bothered using them.

 

The key to using a manual solder sucker properly is to not worry about the iron contacting its tip. Its tip looks like plastic, but it is silicone based, and can handle a lot of heat. Yes, it will melt/deform some, but not much. The tip will last for years, and is also replaceable. Some people, worried about melting the solder sucker's tip, try to heat the solder joint with their iron, then remove the iron and quickly try to get the solder sucker in there and pull the trigger. This doesn't work well, if at all, and they come to the conclusion that manual solder suckers don't work.

 

Press your iron against the pad and post, and then place your solder sucker down over the post, against the iron and pad, and pull the trigger, like in this drawing I made a few years ago:

 

4097424401_57ec8eb341_o.png

 

There is always the possibility that the original joint didn't have much solder in it, and you'll have to add more solder before you can suck it out, but with a good solder sucker and good technique, this doesn't happen often. Also, with practice you get a feel for things, so that you automatically press the post toward the center of the hole with your iron as you pull the trigger on the solder sucker, which will usually prevent it from being stuck to the side of the hole when you are finished. If it is stuck, a little nudge with your hot iron will break it free.

 

You mentioned side cutters; side cutters are usually too bulky for cutting legs on small soldered ICs. You need flush cutters. We were all issued Xuron Micro-Shear 170 II at the PCB factory, which are made right here in Maine, and cost $5 or $6 a pair online. They work very well for a wide variety of things; they are one of my most used tools.

 

If you have a heat gun you should give that method a try too. That would be the quickest method by far if it works.

Edited by MaximRecoil
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I actually get better results with the combined iron/spring loaded sucker then a seperate sucker and iron. I've tried both. I have learned to center the pin with the iron as I suck the solder out. It helps get the stuborn solder out. But the pins still tend to stick the the sides of the holes.

 

My cutters are flush like the ones you linked to, but appearantly low quality. The tip is too wide to fit between the wide flat pins of the chip.

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I actually get better results with the combined iron/spring loaded sucker then a seperate sucker and iron. I've tried both. I have learned to center the pin with the iron as I suck the solder out. It helps get the stuborn solder out. But the pins still tend to stick the the sides of the holes.

 

My cutters are flush like the ones you linked to, but appearantly low quality. The tip is too wide to fit between the wide flat pins of the chip.

 

The ones I linked to should work for you; I've never met a through-hole IC for which I couldn't cut its legs if I wanted to (and pretty much all of them do have the wide flat legs). If you can even get those Xuron cutters onto the leg by a hair, they will cut the leg, and it's not going to hurt anything to jam and twist them in there either, if you need to. The Xuron flush cutters are both high quality and inexpensive ($5.55 here).

Edited by MaximRecoil
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Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try out a better pair of cutters. The desolderer works on most of the pins and I'll just cut the stubborn ones.

 

Aside from the fact, that you could ask me for boards like the one in my avatar, here is my suggestion: "Get a Hakko 808!".

 

I recorded this video to convince Shawn Sr. a long time ago, that this is the way to go...

 

[LINK REMOVED]

 

I'll probably delete that file soon. ;)

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Aside from the fact, that you could ask me for boards like the one in my avatar, here is my suggestion: "Get a Hakko 808!".

 

I recorded this video to convince Shawn Sr. a long time ago, that this is the way to go...

 

[LINK REMOVED]

 

I'll probably delete that file soon. ;)

That is a compelling video. I actually was watching a demo of the Hakko 808 earlier today on Youtube. I'm tempted to get one, but I don't plan on recyling any more boards after I'm done with the 60+ jinks carts I have left. I'll definitely be ordering your boards in the future.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey everyone. Just wanted to check in to let you know how the carts are coming along. Or really not coming along. I have been swamped at work for the last month, which is normal for this time of year, trying to get projects completed, justify a good review, keep my job. You know how it goes. Anyhow, I should be able to get going again when I'm off for the holiday starting next week. So sorry that it is taking so long.

 

Wishing everyone a great holiday season.

 

Best regards,

Perry

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  • 4 weeks later...

Update.  I received my Hakko 808 desoldering tool last week.  Sat down with it for a few hours and knocked out 12 boards. :)  I should be able to get the ball rolling on cart production again now that I've taken the pain out of desoldering. :)

Got one of these for Christmas, HUGE difference from using anything else!
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Update. I received my Hakko 808 desoldering tool last week. Sat down with it for a few hours and knocked out 12 boards. :) I should be able to get the ball rolling on cart production again now that I've taken the pain out of desoldering. :)

This is good news.

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