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by tecleandor 41 days ago
How well does the pump work? A couple times I've had to desolder a connector or IC with lots of pins from a PCB and it's a painful process. I've always wanted to buy one of those, but I've seen lots of reports about getting clogged easily.

I rarely desolder, but I can easily justify a hundred bucks if I can avoid all that hours of work, where I'm also risking damaging an IC, lifting a pad, or something else...
5 comments
alnwlsn 41 days ago
I've used a couple of the ZD- ones and they are ok, but not very good quality. They don't really clog all that often, but they do fill up quickly and are very difficult and messy to clean out. They are also made of cheap plastic which will crack after a while exposed to the heat that it is. The tips for them are also low quality, and the solder will eventually dissolve them, making the hole in the middle of the tip larger and larger until it doesn't work anymore. All of them do technically work, but don't expect them to last.

I went and bought the "proper" Hakko FR-301 and it's an improvement in every way. Well worth the extra $100, and made me wonder why I ever wasted my time with the cheap versions. For whatever reason, the 100V Japan voltage one is about $50 cheaper than the 120V American one, so that's the one I got, but I already happened to have a source of 100VAC handy.

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sandreas 41 days ago
That was true for the older ZD-* models. The one I mentioned is in a different Ballpark (except you also meant specifically the ZD-8965).

The hakko is way better quality but beneath the price (i have no idea where you got one <300 bucks) there is another disadvantage: there is no Station and the hakko is heavy, so if you need to desolder for more than 30 mins I found it getting uncomfortable pretty quick.

Besides that the hakko is a good device. Too expensive for me though

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alnwlsn 41 days ago
My region has the Japan voltage version on Amazon for $210.

https://www.amazon.com/Hakko-FR-301-Desoldering-Tool/dp/B07B...

I think the one I had was the ZD-917, which I don't even think anyone makes anymore. Assuming the ZD-8965 made some material improvements, it looks like it has the same style of reservoir with the internal spring, which is one of the main issues I had with it. I found that the spring would become eventually become trapped inside a large solder blob, making cleaning difficult. Then, you have to line up the filter and keep everything together while reinstalling it. For whatever reason, the tolerancing on mine made this especially difficult, and I eventually broke the glass tube when trying to reinstall it (replaced with an aluminium tube). Hakko version has no internal spring, and has enough tolerance to easily remove the reservoir.

The rubber grommet on the front also eventually lost its grip around the small brass tube that comes out from the iron, so it would leak and not suck as hard. The hakko version presses its grommet against a flat plate instead, so that doesn't happen.

Still, both are much better than the "squeeze bulb" style desoldering iron I had before them.

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Zanfa 40 days ago
It's been awhile, but the best experience I've had desoldering ICs with many pins was with JBCs hot air extractors. They're little metal funnels you put around the component you want to desolder to contain hot air, with a tiny suction cup to lift the part once solder starts to melt.

JBCs stations are expensive though, but you should be able to use just the heat deflectors and a pair of tweezers, rather than a vacuum pump as long as you already have a hot air station.

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beret4breakfast 41 days ago
Would also recommend soldering wick - it’s just copper braid that you heat alongside the solder you’re removing and it ‘wicks’ away the solder.
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varispeed 41 days ago
Sometimes you need combination of desoldering gun, wick and also low melt solder and then those "tubes" that repel solder that you can wrap around the leg whilst heating it.
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jsvaughan 41 days ago
might be worth trying a cheap solder sucker pen if you havent (the mechanical recoil type), significantly better than nothing
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sandreas 41 days ago
I tried different ones and this is clearly the winner.

Small, silent and reliable for cheap money.

I did some minor mods and use these de-makeup cotton pads because they are cheaper but so far a great experience.

Another important note: don't go cheaper here. These manual desoldering pumps (<30 bucks) are pretty bad and the other zd-... Arent worth the money.

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