Spent $40 on a good desoldering gun and it actually paid for itself in one job

I was fighting a stuck capacitor on an old TV board with my cheap plunger pump for 20 minutes with no luck. Dropped the cash on a Hakko desoldering gun, popped that cap out in 5 seconds flat. Anyone else find that spending a little more on the right tool saves way more than it costs?

3 comments

3 Comments

beth_butler757d ago

Right there with you on this one. I had a similar situation with a stubborn through-hole joint on an old stereo receiver and my little spring loaded pump just couldn't get enough suction. After blistering my thumb and mangling the pad I finally caved and bought a proper desoldering station. The feeling when that first joint just vanishes the instant you touch it is pure magic. It's one of those purchases where you kick yourself for not doing it sooner, especially after you calculate how much time you wasted fighting with the cheap stuff. Sometimes you just gotta admit the right tool is worth every penny, no question about it.

zara_perez626d ago

Did your friend @beth_butler75 ever try that trick where you add fresh solder to a stubborn joint before sucking it out? I had a buddy who wrecked a whole Commodore 64 board before he figured that one out.

fiona_webb7d ago

Not sure it's really that serious. A good manual pump and some practice works fine for most stuff. I've been doing this for years and never felt the need to drop hundreds on a station. Maybe if you're doing it every day, but for the occasional repair the cheap tools get the job done. Just takes a little patience and a steady hand.