Hot air tools for SMD caps

[Solder Boy]

Not sure if this is the right forum or not but here goes. Decided to try and desolder some SMD caps off a junk board, well they came off alright but not without some considerable damage. I'm using a regular soldering iron with a normal sized tip ( somewhat on the thin side)

Anyway was looking on YouTube and I noticed some short clips from other techies using what looks like to be some sort of heating adaptor for the soldering iron that fits right over the SMD cap and within seconds it comes off with no damage.

Also another guy was using a hot air tool.. anybody have experience with this? Just asking because I'm sure I'm gonna run into bad SMD caps and well I'm always looking to improve my skills.

[Harvey]

Re: Hot air tools for SMD caps

Hot air works OK, but there's a high chance you'll overheat the capacitors in the process of taking it off so its not recommended if you want to reuse the capacitor - and its also a pain in the ass if there's lots of other components surrounding the one you want to remove.

The best idea for SMD capacitors is something like this http://www.rapidonline.com/Tools-Fas...tweezers/34112.
I find you can remove 99% of Electrolytic SMD caps just by heating one leg with a standard soldering iron and gently lifting a bit, then the other leg a bit, then back and forth until it lifts off. It takes patience but it works.

For the others, like tantalum and 1206 sizes, its easier not to even bother trying...

[Krankshaft]

Re: Hot air tools for SMD caps

There are tweezer soldering irons to remove SMT parts easily.

There is nothing fancy about them they are just two soldering irons connected together with a spring grip.

But it can be done with a regular iron add a bit more solder on the pads melt one side lift up a bit with tweezers melt the other and lift up. Don't lift too high if you have to just lift and alternate little by little.

Hot air stations are risky because you can accidentally loosen other nearby SMT components or overheat ICs if you are not careful.