Actually, for a lot of things where you might want to remove the existing solder (such as leads going through holes) professional rework often involves a vacuum desoldering station.? This is nothing but a soldering iron and solder sucker combined and put on steroids.? A metal tip with a hole in it gets hot to melt the solder, and vacuum sucks away the solder through that hole.? They are spectacularly effective.? You can even buy rework stations that both hot air desoldering AND vacuum desoldering in one unit (one station, two separate devices).? And there are other ways, although not likely for the home shop, such as the “solder fountain” and what you might imagine is actually pretty much what it is.

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Chuck K.

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