Both at work and at home, I use two irons to remove SMD parts. The earlier poster that warned against pad damage when clipping a chip in half was right on; the damage won't occur most of the time, but it will certainly happen on the hardest to remove or the hardest to replace board ;-) And, I maintain that there's a special place in hell reserved for people who design in 0402 and smaller parts when they have plenty of real estate on the board!!
73, geo - n4ua On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 5:58 PM, Alan Bloom <n...@sonic.net> wrote: > On Thu, 2012-04-19 at 14:23 -0700, Ron D'Eau Claire wrote: > > > I have removed hundreds of two-terminal SMDs both by cutting them in > half or > > by unsoldering one end at a time and lifting the part with never any > damage > > to the pcb. > > On most two-terminal SMD parts (resistors, capacitors, etc.), the solder > terminal on each end extends on both sides (top and bottom). So the way > I generally remove them is to tin the top of each contact with a little > solder and then lay the soldering iron tip across the top of the entire > part so that it heats both ends at the same time. Once the solder > melts, you can push the part off the pads with a toothpick, Exacto > knife, whatever. > > > Good light and your favorite magnifiers (if needed) to see clearly are > > essential. > > In my experience, being able to see the darn thing clearly is really the > key to successful SMT work. I have a binocular microscope with built in > light that I bought brand new for about $300. Whatever you use, make > sure to have a bright light, and some form of magnification is very > useful for those of us with middle-aged (or greater) eyes. > > Alan N1AL > > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
