I get it to "curl" (so I can use it without it soldering itself to other
pins), and hold the soldering iron tip firmly onto the back side of the
braid, "forcing" and holding it against the solder that I want rid of,
until that solder melts & flows fully.

Then, having bent the braid while doing that spot, move to the next
pin.  I am guessing that you don't have a large enough soldering iron
tip, or hot enough of an iron temperature, and those might be why you're
having problems getting enough heat transfer here?  (You want a larger
tip, say 0.5" to 0.7", as you're "soldering" a lots heavier "pin" than a
0.1" DIL pin - the braid plus the pin you're trying to wick, takes up
lots more heat.  That 0.01" ultra fine tip, will tend to just melt
enough solder to stick itself to the board as heat transfer increases
<G>)

I usually use 1"-1.5" of braid for about 8-10 pins, at a guess?  I've
done a LOT of rework, enough that I'm surprised I ever can look a PCB in
the face <G>

Another possibility is that you could be using too fine of braid.  Hard
to say without more info, but I don't think that is it from your post
<G>

Hard to describe what I do, too, the idea's to only de-solder one pin at
a time by curving the wick - if you don't do this, it tends to solder
itself to other pins at the same time, and get stuck.  That's a pain, so
I bend the wick.

  Mark

Sean Breheny wrote:
>
> What is the usual technique with the braid? I have some of it but have
> never had great luck, even on single sided boards. In my case, once a tiny
> bit of solder wicks onto the braid, no more seems to transfer. I end up
> having to snip off bits of braid several times for a single DIP pin! I have
> tried heating the component lead and then applying the braid, and I think I
> have also tried heating the braid. Any ideas?
>
> Sean
>
> At 02:36 PM 12/30/99 EST, you wrote:
> >You can get desoldering braid at Radio Shack.  It is cheap and works pretty
> >well.
> >
> >Max
> >
> |
> | Sean Breheny
> | Amateur Radio Callsign: KA3YXM
> | Electrical Engineering Student
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