Author Topic: Desolder Moteino  (Read 791 times)

warp929

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Desolder Moteino
« on: June 14, 2020, 02:46:27 PM »
I have 20+ Moteino that need to be removed from a PCB.  All the pins are soldered with the standard headers.  I've tried several methods with limited success.  I'm concerned that I may be causing thermal damage to the Moteino in the process.

First attempt:
Pull as much solder off with a solder sucker.
Then use a soldering iron to run across one side of the pins until I can tilt one side up a bit.
Then do the other side and keep alternating until it comes off.
Very time consuming.

Second Attempt:
Tried snipping the header with small dikes.  This caused the Moteino to get flexed quite a bit.  I used small electronics dikes so I probably can't do better with that approach.
Once all was cut, I could remove each pin individually.

Third Attempt:
Used a hot air station to heat all the pins on the PCB.  I applied light pressure between the Moteino and the PCB.
After quite a bit of heating of all the pins in a circular motion, the Moteino popped off.
The Moteino seems OK but the PCB took a bit of thermal damage.  I don't mind scrapping the PCB since it is scrap anyways.

Are there any other methods to try that might be less labor/time intensive and also safer for the Moteino?  Thanks.


Felix

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Re: Desolder Moteino
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2020, 10:53:17 AM »
This is what I've done before, definitely time consuming, not a fast operation.
Depending what type of headers are used (sounds like male headers?), I would carefully remove the plastic separator of the headers, then snip away each pin, taking care not to pull/damage the plated header holes.
Once the Moteino is detached from the other PCB, use the soldering iron with some added solder if needed to remove all the cut header pins from the Moteino (and other board if needed).
Finally clean the Moteino header holes with solder sucker.

I would not recommend hot air at all, it will delaminate the PCB layers, causing all kinds of invisible damage: broken vias, damaged parts that may not fail immediately (ceramic especially may still work but at a very different value than specified).