Group, I remember reading a article many years ago, I think it was in BYTE, about salvaging IC's from discarded Printed Circuit Boards by using a chip puller and a torch on the back. Has anyone actually done this? I guess now you could try with a hot air gun? -- DuaneCraps sdɐɹɔ ǝuɐnp
I have, many years ago. Not recommended for your health. Maybe I shouldn’t have done it in the basement... Yes, heat gun or hot-air rework tool if you wanted to try today, I think. -- Jameel Akari
On Apr 16, 2021, at 8:29 PM, Duane Craps via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Group,
I remember reading a article many years ago, I think it was in BYTE, about salvaging IC's from discarded Printed Circuit Boards by using a chip puller and a torch on the back. Has anyone actually done this? I guess now you could try with a hot air gun?
-- DuaneCraps sdɐɹɔ ǝuɐnp
On 4/16/21 8:28 PM, Duane Craps via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Group,
I remember reading a article many years ago, I think it was in BYTE, about salvaging IC's from discarded Printed Circuit Boards by using a chip puller and a torch on the back. Has anyone actually done this? I guess now you could try with a hot air gun?
I've grabbed a few odds and ends from various boards. I'd bet a large number of Ebay pulls come from this method. I don't do it very often because all my old stuff is easy to find parts for. But if I needed a specail ship for my Atari's I wouldn't hesitate ti find another game system to grab parts from. -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
I have but not with a chip puller. I had depopulated many scrap circuit boards years ago using a cardboard box, vice grips & propane torch. I held the board with the vice grips, heated the solder side with the torch and rapped the chip side into the box. The box collects the solder, chips and anything else that falls off (like bypass caps). I then cleaned up the IC leads as needed with a desoldering tool. Other than the occasional solder bridge between pins, the ICs come out pretty clean. I then marked them with a dot of paint so I knew where they came from. I stored these separately from my new stock chips. I used an IC tester board on my Apple ][ to test all my chips before I used them. I rarely do this these days but I did it a lot as a frugal college student when I would pick up a board with 30 or 40 TTL chips on it for a buck or 2 at a swap meet. Regards, Jeff On Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 5:28 PM Duane Craps via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Group,
I remember reading a article many years ago, I think it was in BYTE, about salvaging IC's from discarded Printed Circuit Boards by using a chip puller and a torch on the back. Has anyone actually done this? I guess now you could try with a hot air gun?
-- DuaneCraps sdɐɹɔ ǝuɐnp
On Fri, Apr 16, 2021 at 8:29 PM Duane Craps via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Group,
I remember reading a article many years ago, I think it was in BYTE, about salvaging IC's from discarded Printed Circuit Boards by using a chip puller and a torch on the back. Has anyone actually done this? I guess now you could try with a hot air gun?
I saw someone who would use a blow torch to salvage chips. He did it outside. It was crazy, but all the chips fell off and recovered them. He obviously had a lot of practice with this.
-- DuaneCraps sdɐɹɔ ǝuɐnp
I did it with a cheap hot air gun from Harbor Freight Tools. Just move the hot end of the heat gun around the chip(s) you want to release, then bang the board against an edge in a way that the chip would fly out of its spot while all the solder on its pins is melted. Don't worry about burning the PC board too much. You're going to throw it away anyway. Just do it all outside so you don't have to tolerate much of the off gassing the board does under direct heat like that. Clean the solder off the chips later. On Fri, Apr 16, 2021 at 8:29 PM Duane Craps via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Group,
I remember reading a article many years ago, I think it was in BYTE, about salvaging IC's from discarded Printed Circuit Boards by using a chip puller and a torch on the back. Has anyone actually done this? I guess now you could try with a hot air gun?
-- DuaneCraps sdɐɹɔ ǝuɐnp
On 4/16/21 8:28 PM, Duane Craps via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I remember reading a article many years ago, I think it was in BYTE, about salvaging IC's from discarded Printed Circuit Boards by using a chip puller and a torch on the back. Has anyone actually done this? I guess now you could try with a hot air gun?
I've done this, with both a blowtorch and a hot air gun. Both many years ago when I was a kid. I strongly recommend against the torch; lots of nasty fumes, and it's much easier to control the applied heat with an air gun. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
I may actually have done this many years ago by the tedious method of soldering iron and SoldaPult, which works but is not to be recommended. What I miss from this discussion is references to soldering coppers -- the original soldering/desoldering tool used by tinsmiths and possibly by plumbers, but which never seems to have penetrated the electronics field. You've all seen them at flea markets -- a sturdy rod of iron with a pointed chunk of copper on one end and a wooden handle on the other. I have a few kicking around. Now if you modified the shape of the working end, you could customize it to heat all the pins of an IC without heating the chip itself. The soldering copper itself is heated over a small burner -- a propane torch would do. Neat and efficient. As to fumes -- a cardboard box at an open window with a fan pointing outwards makes a decent fume hood. Bruce NJ On Fri, Apr 16, 2021 at 11:23 PM Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On 4/16/21 8:28 PM, Duane Craps via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I remember reading a article many years ago, I think it was in BYTE, about salvaging IC's from discarded Printed Circuit Boards by using a chip puller and a torch on the back. Has anyone actually done this? I guess now you could try with a hot air gun?
I've done this, with both a blowtorch and a hot air gun. Both many years ago when I was a kid. I strongly recommend against the torch; lots of nasty fumes, and it's much easier to control the applied heat with an air gun.
-Dave
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
I have only desoldered chips (very successfully) using a quality desoldering gun, but then I never salvaged from a scrap board, I only worked on boards that needed repair. I am not sure how I feel about the blowtorch method (I do think hot air has merit). Who out there thinks that a blowtorch used in this manner produces less thermal shock on the ICs than a desoldering gun working pin-by-pin? On Sat, Apr 17, 2021 at 8:59 AM Bruce via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I may actually have done this many years ago by the tedious method of soldering iron and SoldaPult, which works but is not to be recommended.
What I miss from this discussion is references to soldering coppers -- the original soldering/desoldering tool used by tinsmiths and possibly by plumbers, but which never seems to have penetrated the electronics field. You've all seen them at flea markets -- a sturdy rod of iron with a pointed chunk of copper on one end and a wooden handle on the other. I have a few kicking around. Now if you modified the shape of the working end, you could customize it to heat all the pins of an IC without heating the chip itself. The soldering copper itself is heated over a small burner -- a propane torch would do. Neat and efficient.
As to fumes -- a cardboard box at an open window with a fan pointing outwards makes a decent fume hood.
Bruce NJ
On Fri, Apr 16, 2021 at 11:23 PM Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On 4/16/21 8:28 PM, Duane Craps via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I remember reading a article many years ago, I think it was in BYTE, about salvaging IC's from discarded Printed Circuit Boards by using a chip puller and a torch on the back. Has anyone actually done this? I guess now you could try with a hot air gun?
I've done this, with both a blowtorch and a hot air gun. Both many years ago when I was a kid. I strongly recommend against the torch; lots of nasty fumes, and it's much easier to control the applied heat with an air gun.
-Dave
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
On 4/17/21 1:04 PM, Chris Fala via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
worked on boards that needed repair. I am not sure how I feel about the blowtorch method (I do think hot air has merit). Who out there thinks that a blowtorch used in this manner produces less thermal shock on the ICs than a desoldering gun working pin-by-pin?
I ammend my answer as I've never used a blow torch. I can see that method being problemmatic as you most likely wouldn't have the fine control a proper soldering iron would bring. A properly tipped heat gun would even be better. I have seen something in between a blow torch and what Bruce describes. the torch heats the iron from the inside. It's meant for field work where there is no power. Most of the blow torches I've used would have burnt a hole through the board and anything behind it (yes, it was meant for metal cutting). -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
I must say this to protect my reputation. ;) I'd never in a million years do this now, with a heat gun or especially a torch. I did it when I was a broke kid and needed random TTL and SRAM chips to build stuff, and random unidentified boards full of chips were cheap at hamfests. :) -Dave On 4/17/21 1:04 PM, Chris Fala via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I have only desoldered chips (very successfully) using a quality desoldering gun, but then I never salvaged from a scrap board, I only worked on boards that needed repair. I am not sure how I feel about the blowtorch method (I do think hot air has merit). Who out there thinks that a blowtorch used in this manner produces less thermal shock on the ICs than a desoldering gun working pin-by-pin?
On Sat, Apr 17, 2021 at 8:59 AM Bruce via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I may actually have done this many years ago by the tedious method of soldering iron and SoldaPult, which works but is not to be recommended.
What I miss from this discussion is references to soldering coppers -- the original soldering/desoldering tool used by tinsmiths and possibly by plumbers, but which never seems to have penetrated the electronics field. You've all seen them at flea markets -- a sturdy rod of iron with a pointed chunk of copper on one end and a wooden handle on the other. I have a few kicking around. Now if you modified the shape of the working end, you could customize it to heat all the pins of an IC without heating the chip itself. The soldering copper itself is heated over a small burner -- a propane torch would do. Neat and efficient.
As to fumes -- a cardboard box at an open window with a fan pointing outwards makes a decent fume hood.
Bruce NJ
On Fri, Apr 16, 2021 at 11:23 PM Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On 4/16/21 8:28 PM, Duane Craps via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I remember reading a article many years ago, I think it was in BYTE, about salvaging IC's from discarded Printed Circuit Boards by using a chip puller and a torch on the back. Has anyone actually done this? I guess now you could try with a hot air gun?
I've done this, with both a blowtorch and a hot air gun. Both many years ago when I was a kid. I strongly recommend against the torch; lots of nasty fumes, and it's much easier to control the applied heat with an air gun.
-Dave
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
Just read more of your e-mail, Bruce. I think a "copper" that you mentioned would have an electronics industry parallel in the form of shaped soldering iron tips. I have seen several that are configured to apply heat evenly to various size ICs. On Sat, Apr 17, 2021 at 8:59 AM Bruce via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I may actually have done this many years ago by the tedious method of soldering iron and SoldaPult, which works but is not to be recommended.
What I miss from this discussion is references to soldering coppers -- the original soldering/desoldering tool used by tinsmiths and possibly by plumbers, but which never seems to have penetrated the electronics field. You've all seen them at flea markets -- a sturdy rod of iron with a pointed chunk of copper on one end and a wooden handle on the other. I have a few kicking around. Now if you modified the shape of the working end, you could customize it to heat all the pins of an IC without heating the chip itself. The soldering copper itself is heated over a small burner -- a propane torch would do. Neat and efficient.
As to fumes -- a cardboard box at an open window with a fan pointing outwards makes a decent fume hood.
Bruce NJ
On Fri, Apr 16, 2021 at 11:23 PM Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On 4/16/21 8:28 PM, Duane Craps via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I remember reading a article many years ago, I think it was in BYTE, about salvaging IC's from discarded Printed Circuit Boards by using a chip puller and a torch on the back. Has anyone actually done this? I guess now you could try with a hot air gun?
I've done this, with both a blowtorch and a hot air gun. Both many years ago when I was a kid. I strongly recommend against the torch; lots of nasty fumes, and it's much easier to control the applied heat with an air gun.
-Dave
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
On 4/17/21 1:06 PM, Chris Fala via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Just read more of your e-mail, Bruce. I think a "copper" that you mentioned would have an electronics industry parallel in the form of shaped soldering iron tips. I have seen several that are configured to apply heat evenly to various size ICs.
I have a TV special soldering iron with a 3/4" tip that her Father used for TV repair in the 60's. I've always been afraid to turn it on as it might dim the lights. ;-) -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
On Fri, Apr 16, 2021 at 8:29 PM Duane Craps via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I remember reading a article many years ago, I think it was in BYTE, about salvaging IC's from discarded Printed Circuit Boards by using a chip puller and a torch on the back. Has anyone actually done this? I guess now you could try with a hot air gun?
I've done it with a hot air gun and either rapping the board and things fall off or a chip puller for stubborn ones. It's much easier with 2-layer boards than boards with ground traces. I also pull thermoplastic-heavy heat-sensitive things I want to keep (piezo buzzers, battery holders, .1" pin headers...) before the hot air blast. I have an IC tester so I can check the "haul". So far, immediate thermal death is not ordinary, but I can't vouch for long-term. Oh... and I've done it with real lead solder. Haven't done it with the newer, higher-melting-temp RoHS solders. Definitely an outside activity. With a breeze. -ethan
participants (11)
-
Bruce -
Chris Fala -
Dave McGuire -
Douglas Crawford -
Duane Craps -
Ethan Dicks -
Jameel Akari -
Jeff Galinat -
Jeffrey Brace -
jsalzman＠gmail.com -
Neil Cherry