desoldering braid - how to use

I think that's the same thing as "desoldering wick". It can be pretty handy to clean up messy old solder.

The way I use it (and it's possible that there's a better way) is it put some flux on the spot of solder you want to clean up, place the wick over the solder, and hold the soldering iron on top of the wick and let it soak up the solder. It won't work if there's not enough heat, so it won't work well on anything where the heat has somewhere to go. If it's working, you'll see solder traveling up the wick.

You lay the braid on an item that is soldered and then the soldering iron on top of the braid.  As it heats up, it slowly sucks the solder into the braid.

I don't always use it, but it can be helpful to remove solder at times.

Desoldering braid is an effective way to remove solder typically used to remove a wire from a soldered connector. You simply place the braid between your soldering iron and the solder you wish to remove. As the old solder starts to melt, it will magically get absorbed into the braid up to a point. You then need to slowly slide the braid (with the iron still pressing on the braid and the solder joint) to a fresh area of the braid to absorb more solder. It works great.

Thanks.  I just put some in my Amazon shopping cart.

Some braid has flux in it, some is just plain copper. If you use the pure copper braid it will work much better if dipped in a bit of liquid rosin flux. Best if you find the flux impregnated braid to save this step.

Pete

Great for working on printed circuit boards where you need to remove a component.

Just lay the braid on the small solder blob attaching the component to the trace, touch it with a hot iron, and the solder comes clean away from the board. You can then pull the component out from the other side cleanly and safely.

It's my "second-best-friend"!!

Peter.....Buco Australia

Before I got involved with OGR, I was in the electronics repair business for many years. I would conservatively estimate that I have repaired over 5,000 CB radios. Between that CB radio work and the work I’ve done on various model railroads, I would also estimate that I’ve made more than 50,000 solder joints. And I never, ever, used any flux.  If you use a good rosin core solder, you simply do not need it!

And you certainly don’t need flux to UN-solder something. The braid will do all your work.

I've never had any luck without flux for the wick. I've dealt with old solder joints that won't melt at all when I hold the soldering iron directly on them without flux, but will melt as soon as I add it, so I'm confident it helps. It might be that my wick simply doesn't have flux already on it, so I have to add it, but I'm not sure.

Pre fluxed wick draws up solder considerable faster than plain copper wick. On todays  micro circuitry the difference in time can mean lifting a trace or not.
I have only been designing and fabricating electronic instrumentation professionally for about 58 years so I will defer to my elders but given the choice I know which one I would choose.

Pete

The wick (braid) does work, but you may need heat sinks due to the amount of time it takes to use the wick.  I have never used the flux, but that may reduce the amount of heating time.  I use a desoldering station now.

John

Another method is the "fling" method. Heat up the solder with your gun, whip the board as hard as you can, and the molten solder flings all over your room, carpet, concrete, jeans, whatever, but at least its off your board. Another method is the "big blow hard", heat it up, blow as hard as you can at the center of the hole, maybe the hole will empty.  Might want to be wearing glasses for either of these. The fling method won't work on large, fragile, or heavy circuit boards.

Sometimes you need to add a little solder to get rid of solder.

If you are desperate for braid, sometimes you have a piece of left over cable that has braid, you can carefully strip the outer insulation off and get at the braid. 50 ohm cable comes to mind, can't remember if 75 ohm video cable TV has a braid or foil. It will usually be tinned instead of bare copper but it can be 'good enough'.

I agree that adding a bit of flux to the joint or to the braid helps speed up the process of wicking the solder away.  the other thing to remember of course is that because copper is a good heat conductor, your finger might feel the heat (with or without flux) faster than the solder -- so I've found I need to put a glove on that hand or use a pair of needle nose pliers to position the copper braid to exactly the spot I want to desolder -- which can be tricky for a densely packed board.

@illinoiscentral posted:

If you are desperate for braid, sometimes you have a piece of left over cable that has braid, you can carefully strip the outer insulation off and get at the braid. 50 ohm cable comes to mind, can't remember if 75 ohm video cable TV has a braid or foil. It will usually be tinned instead of bare copper but it can be 'good enough'.

...I, also, have smashed/rolled the stripped stranded/braided copper cable/wire flat, dripped some Kester liquid flux (pink stuff) on the flattened cable and it works just dandy in a pinch for many of my de-solder needs.  One nice thing about this technique?...the unstripped portion of the cable/wire (insulation) will help isolate your fingers from the heat.

However, I still prefer and keep handy the commercial wick.  What a sanity/time-saver!

One final suggestion...When using the wick to remove a large blob of solder from a spot, start by placing the fresh wick over the blob about a half-inch or so from the wick end.  Then, as the wicking begins and you see the solder permeating the braid, you can pull the wick to provide additional wicking area.  If you start the wicking at the very end, it's rather hard to push the wick ().  Your only choice, then, is to remove the heat, reposition the wick and then re-heat, etc..

And when you're done, be sure to trim off the soldered wick!  No use in saving it (), and you'll be happier the next time you need to use it in a pinch to have a fresh end ready to go!

FWIW, always...

KD

I tried braid a few times and I didn't care for it.  At work we had a desoldering station hooked up to a vacuum line for ICs and everyone had a solder sucker for everything else.  The braid just didn't compare well to those other methods.  I have a solder sucker at home now - it works great.  Prime it, melt the solder on the joint, and press the button and whoosh, the molten solder is gone.

An online search for "solder sucker" gives good results but probably the more precise scientific term is "desoldering vacuum pump tool".

Dale

For a lot of small boards if I want to remove the solder, I just give it a RAP on the bench after heating the joint.  You'd be amazed how clean that will make the hole.   Yes, I use a solder sucker and desoldering braid at times, but my RAP method frequently is the most effective.