Guy-Fast

What gauge braid do you recommend.

willahlborn

I really don't know, but I bought some copper braid from radio shak, it's 5 feet long rolled up in a little spool. when it's stretched, it's about 3/4 cm wide. it works great.

evosol

hey guys, just an idea... this is what i use. i got a sucker thing from radio shack and it didn't work worth ----, so i took the nozzle and taped it to my moms portable vacume, heat up the joint you want to desolder then hit it with momas vac... it makes this little poping sound then the solder gets sucked out, then i use soldering braid to clean it up if need be.

try it... it works!

willahlborn

Seems like an awful lot of work if you could just use desoldering braid in the first place...

evosol

yeah but the desoldering braid dosn't give that popping sound like using the vac/nozzle thinggy. lol...

no, first i tryed just using the soldering braid but it seems to take too long. i just use it to clean up.

TurboEF9

Too long with the braid? From start to finish.. 15-20 minutes on the ECU. ::shrug::

Practice, it'll get faster.

willahlborn

one mistake I made was trying to use the braid from the bottom of the board. Working from the top seemed to work much faster and better with the braid.

evosol

how do you work the braid? what i usually do is rest the braid on the joint then apply the soldering tip on top, it seems to work good sometimes other times not too good.

willahlborn

Yeah, what you said is basically the right idea; just put the braid between the iron and the joint you are trying to desolder. I find that desoldering on top of the ecu instead of the underside is easier I think because the braid can lay flatter on the board, providing more contact area on the circuit board metal you are heating. Don't ask me why this is; I tried for like an hour trying to get all the solder off the bottom of the board and it didn't work. It took me about 10 minutes on the top of the board.

willahlborn

Hey Jason,
where can I get one of those sexy zif sockets for my eprom?