New Life Games Tech Forums

I have to replace the batteries on an S+ and an S2000 and purchased a Tenma 21-10120 that arrived today.  The tip on the iron is pointy (not sure the technical description).  It occurred to me there might be a better tip to use for disoldering or soldering a battery.  Is there?

Also, is there a preferred temperature?

Thanks for your help.


p.s. I have an old circuit board to practice on.

Hi Seven
I use a 2.4mm chisel. It transfers the heat a bit better.

I use a chisel tip or a conical chisel tip. Temperature should be set to 650F. No more than that as it will discolor and damage the tip's plating.

RJ

I appreciate the help.  Looks like I have to solder a leg back on a chip now too but that is a story for another day. . . .

If you repair your chip, the leg is still going to be weak and each time you insert/remove its only going to break again.

You can buy chip sockets. They are designed for mounting to a PCB board. They come with long legs.
You clip down the legs so they are similar length to a chip

You then take your chip and put it into this spare socket, some people use a drop or two of crazy glue to keep the two bonded together.
Next you build a permanent bridge for the damaged leg to the socket.  You can now use this bonded chip/socket and plug it into the socket mounted on the board....

Along these lines some people buy ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) sockets and put them into the sockets on the boards. This way when changing chips, they ever bend or break the legs. ZIFs have little levers on them that lock the chips in place. Google them

I use 800 degree tips. Here is why.....
The HOTTER the tip the QUICKER it heats the local area.
You want it up to temp ASAP, you do not want it to conduct heat down the lead
or into the part. I'm sorry...but 650 is way too low.
Now when the iron is idling, I will throttle it back to 600 or so..faster recovery time.
Keep tip tinned, wipe clean before you solder and flood the tip when done. Been doing this for
YEARS on my Weller and Pace solder/Desoldering stations...
Keep a good supply of conical and chisel tips.

Kirk

OK...lets say you have a LARGE part to remove, you dont want to waste time or cook the board.
You fire up this bad boy! It's a "Solder Pot" has about 1/2 a pound of 63/37 solder in it at about 800 degrees.
You grab the part with a pair of hemostats, place on the top of the pot...wait maybe 3 or 4 seconds and remote the part.
Then lift the board straight up and allow it to cool....

That is quite the set up.  I've got a soldering station on the dining table - hope I don't drop any hot solder on the table or you know who will get upset with me.

Interesting concept with the ZIF socket into a regular socket.  I did some searches.  Would make frequent game changes a lot easier if used ZIF sockets.

Thanks for all the help.