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  1. Member
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    I am a bit desperate right now after attempting to remove solder from the DVD board for over 2 hours. Yeah, I know this should not take this long so why is it. I borrowed a solder iron that was old so I went out and purchased a new one from Radio Shack 25 W. The guy told me this would work and it is not. When if finally heats up only sometimes will it melt the metal when I put tip directly to the solder welding. I am using a mesh desolder and I believe that the iron is not hot enough to melt the metal.

    I have a Panasonic ES10 that has a blown capacitor. I cannot afford to take to a shop and from the video some post this is real a 30 minute job tops. I have been doing this since 6:30 between running out an purchasing a new one, etc.

    Do I need a higher watt iron? I really need some suggestions. After 40 minutes I turned off the iron to allow it to cool and I just tried it again after waiting for it to warm up for 10 minutes. It still is not working with the mesh and barely working with direct contact to the weld.

    Thank you and appreciate any help as I am way frustrated right now.
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  2. I'm a Super Moderator johns0's Avatar
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    What you need is a better quality solder iron which has better heat control,look for a pencil weller(40w) around $50 and up plus use thinner solder for small circuits and thinner copper braid,i have soldered for over 30 years and having a good quality solder iron makes a world of difference.

    Also having a fine tip helps solder fine points,heavier tips for melting larger solder points.
    I think,therefore i am a hamster.
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  3. are you familiar with flux? by now with a 25 watt iron you have possibly burned the traces on the board. board level electronics repair is not really a task an untrained person should attempt.

    anyway the missing ingredient in your equation is flux. it facilitates the flow of soldier.
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    Thanks for the reply. This is my first time soldering and most likely my last. I agree that there seems to be extremely poor heat control on this model. Does not make sense for it to melt the metal once and then not again. I thought I was going crazy. I don't know the size of the braid as it was part of the original tools my friend let me borrow. Personally, I was going to use a bulb but he had the braid so I figured I would try it.
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  5. I'm a Super Moderator johns0's Avatar
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    Dont use flux for electronic parts,electronic solder already has flux inside of it,a good soldering iron is what you need!!
    I think,therefore i am a hamster.
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    I am worried that I have damaged the board. If the board is damaged then Radio Shack will have to answer to it as I asked them if this tool was correct for the task at hand.

    I am either going to just bring the board to a tv repair shop and see if they will remove the solder for 10.00 or see if I can find a non-radio shack solder.
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  7. Originally Posted by johns0
    Dont use flux for electronic parts,electronic solder already has flux inside of it,a good soldering iron is what you need!!
    you didn't read the op's post well enough and you don't have enough knowledge to make a statement like that. cheap thick soldier may or may not have flux. it's sold both ways. fine silver bearing 96/4 soldier for board component work does not.

    the op needs flux on the braid/board to get the soldier to flow off the board and into the braid. also the knowledge of how much heat to apply and where would help. no more than a 15 watt iron should be used.

    i have a mil-spec cert number, do you?
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  8. I'm a Super Moderator johns0's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by minidv2dvd
    Originally Posted by johns0
    Dont use flux for electronic parts,electronic solder already has flux inside of it,a good soldering iron is what you need!!
    you didn't read the op's post well enough and you don't have enough knowledge to make a statement like that. cheap thick soldier may or may not have flux. it's sold both ways. fine silver bearing 96/4 soldier for board component work does not.

    the op needs flux on the braid/board to get the soldier to flow off the board and into the braid. also the knowledge of how much heat to apply and where would help. no more than a 15 watt iron should be used.

    i have a mil-spec cert number, do you?
    You are incorrect,i have soldered thousands of boards and never have used flux in any shop,only use flux with industrial type of jobs where you use thick solder without flux core and good 40 w iron is much better than a cheap 15w iron,60/40 solder is used for electonic boards,not 96/4.

    Doesnt sound like you worked in any stereo repair shops which i have.
    I think,therefore i am a hamster.
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  9. No solder sucker mentioned?
    tgpo famous MAC commercial, You be the judge?
    Originally Posted by jagabo
    I use the FixEverythingThat'sWrongWithThisVideo() filter. Works perfectly every time.
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  10. I'm a Super Moderator johns0's Avatar
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    Solder suckers tend to rip the smaller copper traces off if you are'nt careful,I only use it if i run out of copper wick.Easy way to pull that cap off is to heat each connection and pull the cap out gently.
    I think,therefore i am a hamster.
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  11. I am going to guess that the reason for the inconsistent heating results is that you may not have learned to "tin" the iron.

    "tinning The action of applying a trace of solder to the tip of the soldering iron in order to facilitate the heat transfer process. "

    When cleaned and tinned, the tip of the soldering iron will look like shiny, molten solder. It improves heat transfer significantly over a tip that becomes coated with oxides and looks a bit black.

    As mentioned above, you do not really need braid. These tall electrolytic capacitors come out pretty readily if you heat one lead and tip the capacitor so its lead pulls out of the hole.
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  12. Video Restorer lordsmurf's Avatar
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    I really want to learn fine electronics soldering, but I've never found a good person/document to learn from.
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  13. Originally Posted by lordsmurf
    I really want to learn fine electronics soldering, but I've never found a good person/document to learn from.
    You need to start with a soldering station. Temp is much more accurate and consistent than a cheapie pencil iron and you won't ruin boards like with a cheap iron. This is what you need:

    http://www.action-electronics.com/grc/wewes51.jpg

    Find an old circuit board and practice, it's really pretty easy. To remove the solder use a vacuum desolderer, if you don't let the board get too hot and keep the flat side of the iron against the board while sucking the solder off you shouldn't have problems with sucking the trace up with the solder. As already stated, when soldering clean the tip and apply a small amount of solder to the tip for better heat transfer, then hold the tip on the board to be soldered just long enough for the solder to flow and apply solder to the board right where the iron and the work meet and let it flow around the part being soldered. With a little practice you'll know how hot the iron needs to be for soldering and desoldering. I like pretty thin solder and a small tip, the single flat tips. With newer electronics joints on PCBs are usually pretty close together and the thin solder and small tip is a lot easier to work with.

    Here's a guide:
    http://www.elexp.com/t_solder.htm
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  14. Video Restorer lordsmurf's Avatar
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    Nice
    Thanks.
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  15. Member bithead9's Avatar
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    lordsmurf,
    tinning is important (as mentioned). You get a metal file and get the tip of the iron nice and smooth. usually you file it to a 30 or 45 degree angle. Then once the iron is hot you add 60/40 solder. Don't bother with SILVER solder unless you learn the LEAD/TIN first. Its just too hard. Silver take way more heat and is a PITA. If you want to DEsolder a component, get a WIRE BRAID (from like Radio Shack) this is used to draw the old solder into the braid of sacrificial copper. This prevents the PCB traces from getting all mucked up. It not expensive and definately WORTH using for removal. The key to soldering something BACK or to the PCB for the first time is to apply heat to BOTH joints the component lead and the PCB trace! Then apply solder in small amounts and only enough to "close the hole" (if you are soldering thru a via). Surface mount soldering is for advanced users. I recommend you start with a 30 watt (or a switchable unit that does 15/30 from RS) this will allow you to lower the temp for more sensitive components. Get some copper hookup wire from RS and PRACTICE before you do an important job. The more experience you get the better. It really is EASY once you get the hang of it... And no matter how long you have been doing it you will sometimes make a mistake and hose up a trace on the PCB or something. Then you need to know how to improvise Good luck, you cen def. do it!
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    Thank you all for the reply back. I did try the tinning but again I am new at it so maybe I was not doing it right. The capacitor that I was removing had a ton of solder on it. The board was put together very sloppy and took some time to get all the solder off.

    I just took the board this week to a local hardware guy and he had a higher watted solder iron. Together we freed the second lead and put the new capacitor back on in about 5 minutes. Luckily I remembered were the negative was to face and I now have my DVD player working!!!!!

    From a few on-line sources this is a known problem with this unit - Panasonic DMR ES10 dvd recorder. I am hoping that the unit will now last me for many years to come.
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  17. Member
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    Originally Posted by lordsmurf
    I really want to learn fine electronics soldering, but I've never found a good person/document to learn from.
    The document suggested is very good. Here is another good one:
    http://www.technick.net/public/code/cp_dpage.php?aiocp_dp=how_to_solder
    Interestingly enough, there seems to be very little overlap between them. They just focus on different aspects of soldering.[/url]
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  18. Video Restorer lordsmurf's Avatar
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    Interesting. Thanks!
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