Miller, Steve wrote: > > > > I also wonder about using a low flow temperature controlled heat > >gun for soldering. High flow blows the parts off the board. > >Nontemperature controlled melts parts. Anyone have any experience with > >this? > > Finally, how about a temperature controlled heat gun as a mini > >environmental chamber? > > >Harold > > I have used a regular old hardware store heat gun to remove SOIC ICs. For > example, I did a number of designs with the Zilog Z8. These OTP SOIC parts > needed changing quite a bit as the firmware was being written. more snips.. > I have not tried it on a PIC yet. Two things to remember. > 1. These heat guns are hotter than the rework stations, so be quick > about the task and keep the gun moving at all times. If you direct the blast at > one area too long it will scorch the PCB. > > 2. The air blast is very hard and broad. Use tin foil and or molding > clay to shield meltable components like plastic connectors and electrolytic > caps. > > Good Luck. > > ----- Steve Yes, I have used the heat gun removal technique for a number of years now, even back to the XT days, to remove the old 4164's. To our knowledge, we never damaged an IC part. I think there is another thing to remember. Don't go picking up the stray caps etc, that may fall onto the floor (or in your lap). They are more than hot and will then be subject to verbal abuse as well. Don McKenzie don@dontronics.com http://www.dontronics.com PICSTART and Newfound PIC Programmers Firmware Upgrades. SLI, the serial LCD that auto detects baud rates from 100 to 125K bps. SimmStick(tm) A PIC proto PCB the size of a 30 pin Simm Memory Module. Send a blank message to help@dontronics.com for more info.