>Solder sucker and/or desoldering iron (vacuum) on each individual pin:   
>Hard to get all of the pins cleaned out enough to pull the chip out, 
>although sometimes we do this first and then clip any remainng attched 
>leads to help ease the cleanup.

One trick for quick removal - IC pins are often magnetic, so clipping pins, then holding a  magnet
above while melting the solder makes them jump out as soon as the solder melts. 

Large tips which contact all pins at once can work well if the pins aren't splayed and the iron is
powerful enough, but you generally need to preload some solder onto the tip to get good thermal
contact. 
As with any soldering process, you can never have too much flux. Brushing a flux pen over the joints
first can work wonders.

Probably the best tool is a good heated continuous-vacuum desolder iron , ideally Metcal. For really
troublesome pins soldered to internal multilayer groundplanes, heating with another iron on the
component side helps. 
The trick is to not be too quick on the vacuum - don't suck til the solder has been molten for a
second or so - this allows heat to transfer all the way through the hole - premature sucking tends
to leave some un-molten solder. As mentioned before, wiggle the pin while sucking to clear all
sides. 

Also remember that thermal contact and surface tension is everything - if a pin isn't quite freed by
the first desolder attempt, it's generally quicker to resolder it and repeat than try getting the
last bit of solder out.


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