MAV-blog

Stuff related to MAV's (and UAV's) from a hobbyist's point of view. Info

How to desolder a chip

This weekend, I made a bad PCB. The only option that was left, was creating a new one. But my PIC was already soldered on! After a search on the net, I didn’t find any approach with simple tools to desolder an SMD chip (in a way that it will still work afterwards!).
This and this are brilliant examples of how not to do it :-)

So I came up with my own solution:

  • Put a lot of solder on the 4 sides of the chip.
  • Turn an iron (to iron your clothes) upside down on maximum temperature.
  • Put your PCB on it (no solder on the bottom).
  • Now quickly heat up the 4 soldered sides with your soldering iron.
  • The heat of the iron will make sure the solder remains liquid for a few seconds.
  • You can use your soldering iron to push the chip off the PCB when you’re desoldering the last side.
  • Do it quick so your chip won’t be burnt!

Good luck :-)

30 July 2007, 16:46 | Link |

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