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Hot take: hot air rework stations are overkill for most board level repairs
I spent years using this big Hakko FR-870 to pull chips, but last week I tried a cheap soldering iron with a blob of Chip Quik alloy on a dead laptop GPU from 2015... worked way faster and didn't blow off nearby caps. The trick is getting the alloy to wet all the pins evenly, then just wick it off with a pump. Has anyone else found a simpler approach that kills the need for desoldering guns?
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finley_price243mo ago
Yeah, Chip Quik really does make the hot air station feel like overkill for most jobs.
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the_anthony3mo ago
My first time trying Chip Quik I must have used half the stick on a single 8-pin SOIC because I kept burning my fingers with the hot air gun I was too stubborn to put down. Honestly though, ive got a pile of desoldering braid in my drawer that's basically just collecting dust now. I still keep the hot air station around for the big stuff, but for most things I'm reaching for the low temp alloy first. It's like having a cheat code for soldering and I still manage to mess it up somehow.
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terryk103mo ago
Argue the other way, but hear me out. Honestly, a hot air station is still way more useful than people give it credit for. Sure, Chip Quik works fine for small stuff like a loose resistor or a cap, but try using it on a big QFP chip or a BGA component and you're gonna be there all day fighting with solder bridges. Ngl, the paste method has its own problems too, like when you accidentally lift a pad because you didn't heat the board evenly. Tbh, I'd rather have the hot air station every time for anything bigger than a 4-pin part, just for the control and speed.
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jana_scott3mo ago
Wait but how do you deal with parts that have hidden pins underneath, like a QFN or a BGA? The alloy only wets what you can see right?
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