how to remove tropical fish caps

[Austin73]

Hi Everyone,

Now I have lots of Inductors my next aim was to find some Tropical Fish Caps......and hey presto found an Elka organ full of them (and plenty of 3080's)

So got cracking removing them ....... but arrgghhh the bloody things are a nightmare to remove they keep collapsing and legs pulling off etc and they seem rather chalky and powdery.

Has anybody got any tips on removing them without too much breakage?

I'm using the soldering iron finger pinch technique ouch!


cheers

Aus

[JasonG]

In the US you can get a de-soldering iron for like $10 from radio shack. For the cost of a tip I got a whole Iron that did the job better.

[MikeH]

In the US you can get a de-soldering iron for like $10 from radio shack. For the cost of a tip I got a whole Iron that did the job better.

+1!!

[kurtlives]

If you decide you just wann buy some I have a ton of vintage ones for sale.

[Solidhex]

Yo

  Might help to use heatsinks on the legs you are desoldering. Make sure you get all the solder off before yanking on them.

--Brad

[Skreddy]

I find that a good quality solder braid works best to remove components.  Unless something is on a 2-sided board, I can generally get them to just drop off.  Solder suckers are nowhere near as perfect at wicking out and drying up that film of solder that braid can do very well.

[rikkards]

Any advice on using braid? I have tried but never had any luck and have resorted to using a solder sucker

I find that a good quality solder braid works best to remove components.  Unless something is on a 2-sided board, I can generally get them to just drop off.  Solder suckers are nowhere near as perfect at wicking out and drying up that film of solder that braid can do very well.

[Ronsonic]

The only braid I've ever had really good results from is Chem-Wick's Soderwick or some similar mis-spelling. It's an excellent tool for cleaning up pads and getting small amounts of solder. I'd start with a plunger style solder sucker, the pretty blue Radio Shack version works well for a year or two of heavy use and should last ages for a hobbyist.

The crumbling tendencies you're having trouble with the TFs is like the reason to not use these things in the first place. Yeah, mojo and yeah, there are those who say they sound better than the epoxy coated orange drops. And I won't argue that. But...
(crotchety rant from a cranky old bench git deleted).

Ron

[Skreddy]

Techspray pro-wick is awesome.
https://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&pa=263599&productId=263599