Manual Desoldering Pump Suggestions.
 

Hi,

Does anyone have any recommendations for a cheap but useable manual desoldering pump?

Thanks,

Jonathan

Re: Manual Desoldering Pump Suggestions.
 

Having tried a few over the years I'm not convinced such a thing exists I'm afraid. Might just be my incompetence when trying to use them.

Alan

Re: Manual Desoldering Pump Suggestions.
 

Depends on what you are doing. I've found this kind of thing :-

https://uk.farnell.com/multicomp-pro...older%20sucker


....fine for removing solder from tag boarded joints prior to unwinding them with long nosed pliers.


However, huge amounts of damage were being caused to PCBs by them, at my first company (1981) They banned the things and invested in proper electric Pace rework equipment.

For PCB based hobby repairs, I've invested in a Pace ST115.

Re: Manual Desoldering Pump Suggestions.
 

The best one I've found is the Engineer SS-02, made in Japan. Amazon sell them for around £19. They have a soft silicone tube which improves suction. There is a spare length of tube in the pack but it's worth ordering an extra pack of tubing at the same time.
Mark.

Re: Manual Desoldering Pump Suggestions.
 

I agree with The General. Someone (you?) recommended those here ages ago and I bought one.

It's got a very good suck, and thanks to the silicone tube end, a very good adaptation against the molten solder joint.

I find I can remove 95% of the solder from a tagstrip or valveholder terminal with one of these and my Weller TCP iron, so long as I add a bit of liquid flux or fresh rosin-core solder first. The remaining solder can be blotted off with a bit of bog-standard Servisol Soldamop braid in the usual way, then the wires unwrapped. Saves using several inches of braid for a single joint, and quicker too (which is also kinder to the tagstrip or whatever).

The downside? Unless the volume of solder requiring removal is very small, the flexible nozzle blocks every time! The way I deal with this is to pull off the silicone tube, prime the plunger again (thus expelling the cylinder of set solder), poke a small screwdriver through the tube if necessary, then re-fit the tube. With practice, this takes only 3-4 seconds ;)

Re: Manual Desoldering Pump Suggestions.
 

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Alan, I've always struggled with these in the past, but I've only ever used the very cheapest I could find - probably a false economy.

Mark, I've just ordered an SS-02. Hopefully it's the solution to my desoldering woes.

Re: Manual Desoldering Pump Suggestions.
 

Like Alan, I struggled with solder removal syringe-type pumps and eventually invested in a Duratool electric one. They are quite expensive at getting on for £100 and have some design flaws but I wouldn't be without mine.

Re: Manual Desoldering Pump Suggestions.
 

I have put a piece of silicon sleeving over the end of a normal solder sucker. Actually the outer part of the normal cable used on Weller soldering irons.
It cloggs up quickly but it all stays in that part and not further up, so is easily un clogged.

Re: Manual Desoldering Pump Suggestions.
 

I think the one I purchased is 2mm inner diameter silicon nozzle. The replacement nozzles are about £5 for two, but silicone sleaving of the same inner diameter can be had for less than that for 1m, so I'll probably make my own nozzles.

Re: Manual Desoldering Pump Suggestions.
 

I use a Hellermann sleeve over the end of the hard nozzle

Re: Manual Desoldering Pump Suggestions.
 

Me too, this was standard industry practice back in the day. H20 or H30.

Re: Manual Desoldering Pump Suggestions.
 

At work we used a Soldapult for general desoldering , Pace rework station for more delicate work and Xuro wick for everything else. I still use a soldapult and wick today

https://www.amazon.com/EDSYN-The-Ori...006GOKVKI?th=1

No connection to the company other than satisfied user of their product.

Re: Manual Desoldering Pump Suggestions.
 

There's a difference between simple 'solder suckers' and 'manual de-soldering pumps' which look like a soldering iron with a hollow tip which melts the solder, and has an inbuilt spring-loaded solder sucker. This enables one-hand operation to simultaneously melt the joint and suck up the molten solder.

The 'pump' part of the de-soldering tool can be detached for emptying and cleaning.

I don't know if that's what the original poster is actually after.

Maplin used to stock them - I bought one some years ago, see pics attached.

Farnel CPC stock them.

Cheap enough at £7.14 inc VAT, but plus P&P on orders below £20.00.

I've tried to post the URL but it won't work.

Google 'Desoldering Pump 230V - D01849' (40Watts) should find it.

Datasheet here:

https://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1595632.pdf

Might be cheaper overall from eBay - about £11.50 inc P&P from several suppliers:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/1643234426?iid=153922461374

Hope that's of interest.

Re: Manual Desoldering Pump Suggestions.
 

I have the same, looking at the data sheet (on the Farnel) site I see that replacement tips are available, perhaps this is a consideration for any such purchase no matter the model/manufacturer.

Re: Manual Desoldering Pump Suggestions.
 

Cautionary note - I managed to knock a tag of a Quad II tag board with the sucker. Mine is the same as the Farnell one above. But they are great at clearing the holes in PCBs and tags so components can be placed and adjusted before re-making the joint.

Re: Manual Desoldering Pump Suggestions.
 

One caveat concerning tools similar to that in post #4 is that they do not have a guard over the range that the plunger will travel. If you are careless, you could easily damage an eye should the plunger fly into it when released. Types like those in post #3 are far safer from that viewpoint.

Re: Manual Desoldering Pump Suggestions.
 

Another vote for the Engineer Japanese sucker. A bit pricey but have had mine for years and still going strong.

Re: Manual Desoldering Pump Suggestions.
 

Hi, thanks for all the suggestions.
I took the plunge and opted for the Engineer SS-02 in the end.
Used it yesterday to help remove some components from a BBC model B yesterday.

It works well, though it does need clearing regularly!