[vcf-midatlantic] Chip Salvage

[Jeff Galinat]

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 at 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
>
>