Vacuum Desoldering Tool

Comments about RadioShack Vacuum Desoldering Tool:

has good vacuum and is very easy to use

Comments about RadioShack Vacuum Desoldering Tool:

Plastic trigger wore out and broke after one day.
Needs to be cleaned VERY frequently in order to function properly.

Very disappointing product, if you're stuck needing to desolder something and your only choice is Radio Shack; Pick up their desoldering iron and some braid

Comments about RadioShack Vacuum Desoldering Tool:

Pros:
Low price, heat resistant tip, effective functionality.

Cons: Plunger may need frequent cleaning, not for industrial use.

The best thing about this tool is that it works very well; in fact, better than I expected. The only unexpected problem was that the cleaning plunger occasionally gets stuck with melted solder, preventing the plunger from working at all. To clean, unscrew the end with the tip on it being careful not to lose the spring. Remove spring, Clean plunger with fine sand paper or steel wool. Reassemble. I had to do this only once throughout my project.

Here is how I desoldered several miniature relays from a circuit board:

1. Heat a soldering iron and arm the desoldering unit by pushing down on the plunger until it clicks.
2. Clean the soldering tip and place the soldering tip on the side of the old joint. Apply a little fresh solder on the old joint. The fresh solder helps melt the old solder better.
3. Place the tip of the desoldering unit on the old joint as close as possible to the soldering tip.
4. Release the plunger by pressing the button.
5. Repeat a few more times until most of the old solder is gone.
6. Most likely some old solder will be left in the little hole in the circuit board. To get around this problem, heat the old joint again and using the soldering tip on one side and a miniature flat screwdriver on the other, rock the joint back and forth lightly to loosen up the tiny contact.
7. Repeat for all contacts.
8. Use the desoldering unit again where there may be a stubborn joint.
9. Remove item carefully not to damage the board.
10. You may have to heat a stubborn joint or two as you pull out the item.

Comments about RadioShack Vacuum Desoldering Tool:

Used it remove IC's from an old keyboard, worked great

Comments about RadioShack Vacuum Desoldering Tool:

You're better off using a babies snot sucker than this expensive Junk. Didn't get 1 years use from it and was used very, very few times. Peice of Junk...

Comments about RadioShack Vacuum Desoldering Tool:

ok

Comments about RadioShack Vacuum Desoldering Tool:

Ok so i just recently bought this little tool, and i have to say i was a little skeptical about it based upon the other reviews. I got it and started out by trying to desolder some potentiometers from a mixer board...It worked very well and after one little *suck on each pin, it came right off easily. I figured after the pots i would try something a little smaller, so i opted to desolder a DIP-8 pin Op-Amp, once again, it worked very well and i was able to take off the Op-Amp easily. After the Op-Amp, i decided to go for something big. I desoldered (with ease) a 32 pin analogue selector switch. Once again, it came off easily! I am very surprised by how well this solder sucker works! One thing i did notice though was that in order for the vacuum effect to be very effective (to the point where it clears all the solder off the pins), you have to stick the pin inside the hole on the tip of the sucker...It doesn't have to be flat on it, but at an angle so your soldering iron can heat up the solder while at the same time the sucker can be in there and suck up all that unwanted solder. Another pro i found with this product is that the teflon tip is VERY durable! much more than i thought it would be. You can stick the tip directly on the soldering iron tip and it won't melt, and i was using an iron that was at 900* farenheight. Granted tho that it may not melt, it WILL get very hot! so be careful! What's also nice about this sucker is that whenever you push down the rod so that it locks into place, a litle metal rod comes out the tip so as to clear it of any solder residue that may still be inside. I think the only con i can find with this thing is that the metal spring inside very quickly becomes covered in solder dust...however i don't know if that is necessarily a bad thing. Also, as a last comment, KEEP THE O-RINGS LUBRICATED! It's very important for proper operation of the sucker. Over all, this is a great product and while the [$] radioshack is asking for this may seem like overkill, it's definitely worth it in the end. This little solder sucker has already saved me many components that i would have already destroyed trying to desolder just with the iron. I'm giving this a 4 instead of a 5 just from a looks standpoint :) it's not exactly the most attractive piece of equipment in the shop. but it does it's job very well:)

Comments about RadioShack Vacuum Desoldering Tool:

At first I thought it was just a piece of junk entirely. Unless the tip is jammed over a lead, once you hit the trigger you are going to be yanked at least a quarter inch, and even then I was coming up completely dry of solder.

Then I recently had someone give me a piece of sage like advice: "Put your finger on the tip and depress the trigger, the plunger shouldn't move."

Mine slides almost all the way back.

So I start taking it apart and trying to fix it, then I realize I lost the manual. "No problem", I think, "I'll go onto radioshack dot com and onto the product page and find the manual online so I can see if I'm missing a maintenance step."

No dice. Product sucks at sucking and is thus both ironic and lacking iron at the same time (Appears to be made of aluminum and plastic). I'd say it blows my mind, but it doesn't blow either. That's three cracks at its expense, the fourth crack will be when you crack a joint - be it on your finger or PCB - trying to use this thing. It kicks so hard that if you don't have a hold of it, it'll jump like a snake!

Comments about RadioShack Vacuum Desoldering Tool:

I used to use these tools along time ago. I did not buy another one cause the tool would start clogging up easily with excess solder. With all of the fiddling around with the PC boards, I do want to get this tool back so I don't have worry about the other tool that uses 45 watts of power and my parts will not be damaged from excessive heat and ESD. I will recommend this for sensitive components verses the 45 watt iron. It's just that you need to clean it out after so many uses.

Comments about RadioShack Vacuum Desoldering Tool:

I had to finally replace mine after 15 years. I used mine for home projects and in my electronics labs, for my students.
Keep it clean and lubricate the "O" rings with petroleum Jelly. The threads on the blue part held up until about 3 years ago then I used Teflon tape to help tighten the threads.

I admit it takes a while to master. RS used to have one that was much smaller for tight spaces but dropped it about 20 years ago.