On Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:03:43 -0600 Forrest W Christian wrote: > Hot air to heat the component - top side, package seems to > self-destruct before the leads get hot enough to melt the solder. > Bottom - hard to do without scorching board.=20 I believe most of the damage described is due to lack of patience. I've desoldered lots of packages without any problem, but the secret is to give the DIP package (and the board) time to heat up. Not to crank up temperature. It takes quite a bit of time for the necessary heat to build up so solder melts... 20 - 30 seconds or more. John --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .