Falcon Dallas NVRAM chip desoldering - is a Hakko "safe"?

[oracle_jedi]

Both my Falcons have dead NVRAM chips, no big surprise there.

 

I've read that removing them is a PITA, and that typical soldering iron+solderpult approach will likely destroy traces and possibly the whole Falcon.

 

I've also seen the "cut the chip away from the top" approach, which seems to me a risky way to make a huge mess too.

 

How safe is a Hakko desoldering station? It seems pretty gentle on the vacuum and has variable heat settings from 400F to 750F, would this be a better option to desolder the Dallas chip from the underside and then use a plastic screwdriver to lever the chip off?

 

 

 

 

[Keatah]

Hakko, Met-Cal, Harbor-Freight.. Whatever.. Thing is to be sure the tool-tip is grounded, properly sized, and has good heat capacity/reserve. It would take a lot of vacuum power to suck the traces off the board, so that isn't an issue.

 

It appears to be a standard DIP package, so no special tricks unless I'm missing something completely. I speak as an engineer seeing this as any other desoldering job.

[anzac]

replacement NVRAM kit available on exxos store:

 

https://www.exxoshost.co.uk/atari/last/storenew/

 

Falcon030 RTC replacement NVRAM