> I know many boards are made with lead solder, so I work in well ventilated
> areas.

Practically all of them, in fact.

> Anyone know an easier way than prying ICs off while heating the pins and
> still having a working chip at the end of it all? Any solvents that eat
> solder? Maybe solvents that eat the circuit board away? Some sort of oven
> arrangement? Magic?

I've seen special soldering iron tips in catalogs that are shaped to
simultaneously heat all the pins on a particular package, like a 16
pin DIP, for example, but I've never actually used any of these.

I have used specially shaped nozzles on hot air soldering equipment
that direct the hot air to all the pins on a component, which can
then be plucked off with a vacuum pick or other instrument. These hot
air soldering stations are intended primarily for working with
surface mount devices. Unfortunately, hot air soldering stations are
much too expensive for most hobby use.

By far the easiest technique I've used for getting through-hole
components is to melt all the solder on the board by dipping the
bottom of the board into a large solder pot with a special tongs,
then quickly turning it over and banging it on a table, knocking
nearly all the parts off the board in one quick step. But large
solder pots are also something that hobbyists are unlikely to have
sitting around.

I have managed to remove parts by melting all the pins from the
bottom of the board with a small torch then banging the board on a
table to knock the part off. Success with this has been mixed because
the board and part get hotter than with the solder pot method
(probably because this takes longer) and because the burning PCB
epoxy makes lots of nasty fumes that are hard to avoid breathing.

The technique I most often use for removing a single through-hole
part is to use a solder sucker to desolder one pin at a time, then
loosen the individual pins from the walls of the holes using a
miniature screwdriver or other small pointed tool. This is time
consuming, but doesn't require any exotic tools and usually results
in a useable part. I generally only do this for expensive parts, or
parts that I'd have to wait a long time to get. Twenty cent chips
that are available at a local store just aren't worth the labor.


---
                                        Peace,
                                        William Kitchen

The future is ours to create.