continuous action solder sucker

[rush14]

I'm attempting to fabricate a continuous action solder sucker along
the lines of those used at work

when repairing circuit boards. They were fast, clean, easy to use and
prevented damage to the circuit boards from excessive prolonged heat.

Unfortunately I'm now retired and the factory work has all been
outsourced overseas. There's nobody left now from work who would know
about this.

As I recall they consisted of a vacuum source (unknown to me), a
flexible hose connected to a small cylinder with a tuft of steel wool
inside to trap solder and a teflon sucking tip at the other end of
the cylinder.

Apparently there is more to vacuum technology than I imagined because
all my attempts have so far failed miserably. When I adapt a short
(~3 foot) flexible hose to my vacuum source the suction at the end of
the hose is almost non-existent.

My first attempt was using the air intake of a 12V automotive tire
inflator, an idea I got from extensive Google searching, although not
intended for that purpose. There seemed to be plenty of suction at the
air intake itself but almost no suction at the end of the flexible
hose.

I then decided to go to extremes and adapted the hose to the vacuum
port of a powerful shop vac. I actually expected the hose to collapse
from excessive vacuum but instead there was again almost no suction at
the end of the hose. I then added a secondary intake port to
alleviate what I thought might be excessive load on the shop vac then
tried using the shop vac exhaust port to create a vacuum. Neither
attempt worked.

I would normally give up but I know the theory behind it works from my
experience at the factory. I'm apparently ignorant in the physics of
vacuum.

I'm also familiar with other desoldering tools including plunger and
squeeze bulb solder suckers, solder wick and built in suckers on
soldering irons. I've found them all lacking in one way or another
compared to the gizmo I'm trying to imitate from the factory.

Any ideas from you guys about the error of my ways will be greatly
appreciated.

Thanks a bunch,
Rush

 

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article
<4014381d-7eea-4c0c-a2c3-72bbb46f7743@y4g2000yqy.googlegroups.com>,
rush14 <rush14@columbus.rr.com> wrote:

I'm also familiar with other desoldering tools including plunger and
squeeze bulb solder suckers, solder wick and built in suckers on
soldering irons. I've found them all lacking in one way or another
compared to the gizmo I'm trying to imitate from the factory.

Any ideas from you guys about the error of my ways will be greatly
appreciated.

You want what's known as a desolder station. They've been somewhat
overtaken by hot air devices so older ones can be picked up cheaply on
Ebay. Basically, a soldering iron with a hole through the middle of the
tip which is connected via a filter to a vacuum pump. At one time they
were fiendishly expensive. There may well be cheaper ones new from the far
east now.

--
*Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder *

Dave Plowman dave@davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

 

[William Sommerwerck]

I'm also familiar with other desoldering tools including plunger
and squeeze bulb solder suckers, solder wick and built-in
suckers on soldering irons. I've found them all lacking in one
way or another compared to the gizmo from the factory I'm
trying to imitate.

Do you really need a "continuous" device? Its only actual advantage is that
you simply hit the floor switch and "whoosh!" You don't have to reset the
plunger.

As nice as they are (and I've used them), I've never felt any strong need to
have one for occasional home use. Even if I could afford one, I wouldn't buy
one.

I have three hand-held units (two plastic EDSYNs, and an off-brand metal
unit). If a joint looks as if it's going to give me problems, I cock all of
them before I start. Solderwick has its own advantages, as it makes good use
of surface tension.

 

[Arfa Daily]

"rush14" <rush14@columbus.rr.com> wrote in message
news:4014381d-7eea-4c0c-a2c3-72bbb46f7743@y4g2000yqy.googlegroups.com...

I'm attempting to fabricate a continuous action solder sucker along
the lines of those used at work

when repairing circuit boards. They were fast, clean, easy to use and
prevented damage to the circuit boards from excessive prolonged heat.

Unfortunately I'm now retired and the factory work has all been
outsourced overseas. There's nobody left now from work who would know
about this.

As I recall they consisted of a vacuum source (unknown to me), a
flexible hose connected to a small cylinder with a tuft of steel wool
inside to trap solder and a teflon sucking tip at the other end of
the cylinder.

Apparently there is more to vacuum technology than I imagined because
all my attempts have so far failed miserably. When I adapt a short
(~3 foot) flexible hose to my vacuum source the suction at the end of
the hose is almost non-existent.

My first attempt was using the air intake of a 12V automotive tire
inflator, an idea I got from extensive Google searching, although not
intended for that purpose. There seemed to be plenty of suction at the
air intake itself but almost no suction at the end of the flexible
hose.

My current Pace desoldering station uses a vacuum pump no larger than the
pressure pump used in a tyre inflator. My previous Weller DS900 had a
similar sized pump. On both of these stations, the vacuum port is connected
to the business end via about 2 feet of fairly soft and pliable
heat-resistant (silicone ?) tubing, about the size of TV coax. The vacuum on
both stations is as strong at the desoldering head as it is at the port, so
I'm not sure where you are having trouble with the physics of vacuum
engineering, with your attempts at replicating your work system. FWIW, there
are plenty of desoldering and rework stations on the market both new from
the Far East, and second hand on FleaBay. Most of the ones I've used work
pretty well, and in a non-production environment where there's only you, I
don't really see a need for continuous vacuum. Vacuum builds very quickly
when you operate the pump switch on a desoldering station, and is maintained
until you let go of the switch.

Arfa

I then decided to go to extremes and adapted the hose to the vacuum
port of a powerful shop vac. I actually expected the hose to collapse
from excessive vacuum but instead there was again almost no suction at
the end of the hose. I then added a secondary intake port to
alleviate what I thought might be excessive load on the shop vac then
tried using the shop vac exhaust port to create a vacuum. Neither
attempt worked.

I would normally give up but I know the theory behind it works from my
experience at the factory. I'm apparently ignorant in the physics of
vacuum.

I'm also familiar with other desoldering tools including plunger and
squeeze bulb solder suckers, solder wick and built in suckers on
soldering irons. I've found them all lacking in one way or another
compared to the gizmo I'm trying to imitate from the factory.

Any ideas from you guys about the error of my ways will be greatly
appreciated.

Thanks a bunch,
Rush

 

[GregS]

In article <4014381d-7eea-4c0c-a2c3-72bbb46f7743@y4g2000yqy.googlegroups.com>, rush14 <rush14@columbus.rr.com> wrote:

I'm attempting to fabricate a continuous action solder sucker along
the lines of those used at work

My Weller's hose is surprisingly soft. Must be more flow than suction.
It needs frequent cleaning.

greg

 

On Jun 29, 8:05 am, rush14 <rus...@columbus.rr.com> wrote:

I'm attempting to fabricate a continuous action solder sucker along
the lines of those used at work

when repairing circuit boards.  They were fast, clean, easy to use and
prevented damage to the circuit boards from excessive prolonged heat.

Unfortunately I'm now retired and the factory work has all been
outsourced overseas.  There's nobody left now from work who would know
about this.

As I recall they consisted of a vacuum source (unknown to me), a
flexible hose connected to a small cylinder with a tuft of steel wool
inside to trap solder and a  teflon sucking tip at the other end of
the cylinder.

Apparently there is more to vacuum technology than I imagined because
all my attempts have so far failed miserably.  When I adapt a short
(~3 foot) flexible hose to my vacuum source the suction at the end of
the hose is almost non-existent.

My first attempt was using the air intake of a 12V automotive tire
inflator, an idea I got from extensive Google searching, although not
intended for that purpose. There seemed to be plenty of suction at the
air intake itself but almost no suction at the end of the flexible
hose.

I then decided to go to extremes and adapted the hose to the vacuum
port of a powerful shop vac.  I actually expected the hose to collapse
from excessive vacuum but instead there was again almost no suction at
the end of the hose.  I then added a secondary intake port to
alleviate what I thought might be excessive load on the shop vac then
tried using the shop vac exhaust port to create a vacuum.  Neither
attempt worked.

I would normally give up but I know the theory behind it works from my
experience at the factory.  I'm apparently ignorant in the physics of
vacuum.

I'm also familiar with other desoldering tools including plunger and
squeeze bulb solder suckers, solder wick and built in suckers on
soldering irons.  I've found them all lacking in one way or another
compared to the gizmo I'm trying to imitate from the factory.

Any ideas from you guys about the error of my ways will be greatly
appreciated.

Thanks a bunch,
Rush

The Metcal de-soldering gun uses a 50 PSI air supply. There is a
venturi to make a vacuum from the trigger controlled air.

G˛

 

[GregS]

In article <732fbe89-97bd-499f-ad18-99066ece2603@d37g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>, rush14 <rush14@columbus.rr.com> wrote:

On Jun 29, 11:05=A0am, rush14 <rus...@columbus.rr.com> wrote:
I'm attempting to fabricate a continuous action solder sucker along
the lines of those used at work

when repairing circuit boards. =A0They were fast, clean, easy to use and
prevented damage to the circuit boards from excessive prolonged heat.

Unfortunately I'm now retired and the factory work has all been
outsourced overseas. =A0There's nobody left now from work who would know
about this.

As I recall they consisted of a vacuum source (unknown to me), a
flexible hose connected to a small cylinder with a tuft of steel wool
inside to trap solder and a =A0teflon sucking tip at the other end of
the cylinder.

Apparently there is more to vacuum technology than I imagined because
all my attempts have so far failed miserably. =A0When I adapt a short
(~3 foot) flexible hose to my vacuum source the suction at the end of
the hose is almost non-existent.

My first attempt was using the air intake of a 12V automotive tire
inflator, an idea I got from extensive Google searching, although not
intended for that purpose. There seemed to be plenty of suction at the
air intake itself but almost no suction at the end of the flexible
hose.

I then decided to go to extremes and adapted the hose to the vacuum
port of a powerful shop vac. =A0I actually expected the hose to collapse
from excessive vacuum but instead there was again almost no suction at
the end of the hose. =A0I then added a secondary intake port to
alleviate what I thought might be excessive load on the shop vac then
tried using the shop vac exhaust port to create a vacuum. =A0Neither
attempt worked.

I would normally give up but I know the theory behind it works from my
experience at the factory. =A0I'm apparently ignorant in the physics of
vacuum.

I'm also familiar with other desoldering tools including plunger and
squeeze bulb solder suckers, solder wick and built in suckers on
soldering irons. =A0I've found them all lacking in one way or another
compared to the gizmo I'm trying to imitate from the factory.

Any ideas from you guys about the error of my ways will be greatly
appreciated.

Thanks a bunch,
Rush

I appreciate the 5 responses I received and all your advice is well
taken. I admit to being obsessed with this challenge. I'm retired
from industrial electronics and now consider myself only a hobbyist so
the commercial equivalents of what I'm trying to do are just not
feasible.

I still don't understand why the small pumps used in commercial
desoldering equipment far outperform the shop vac I had tried. The
shop vac experiment was only an overkill step in an attempt to begin
fine tuning the solder sucker idea.

High volume is not necessarily high vacuum. You will have to measure the vacuum.
My little 170 cfm radon fan will suck two inches of water.

greg

 

[rush14]

On Jun 29, 11:05 am, rush14 <rus...@columbus.rr.com> wrote:

I'm attempting to fabricate a continuous action solder sucker along
the lines of those used at work

when repairing circuit boards.  They were fast, clean, easy to use and
prevented damage to the circuit boards from excessive prolonged heat.

Unfortunately I'm now retired and the factory work has all been
outsourced overseas.  There's nobody left now from work who would know
about this.

As I recall they consisted of a vacuum source (unknown to me), a
flexible hose connected to a small cylinder with a tuft of steel wool
inside to trap solder and a  teflon sucking tip at the other end of
the cylinder.

Apparently there is more to vacuum technology than I imagined because
all my attempts have so far failed miserably.  When I adapt a short
(~3 foot) flexible hose to my vacuum source the suction at the end of
the hose is almost non-existent.

My first attempt was using the air intake of a 12V automotive tire
inflator, an idea I got from extensive Google searching, although not
intended for that purpose. There seemed to be plenty of suction at the
air intake itself but almost no suction at the end of the flexible
hose.

I then decided to go to extremes and adapted the hose to the vacuum
port of a powerful shop vac.  I actually expected the hose to collapse
from excessive vacuum but instead there was again almost no suction at
the end of the hose.  I then added a secondary intake port to
alleviate what I thought might be excessive load on the shop vac then
tried using the shop vac exhaust port to create a vacuum.  Neither
attempt worked.

I would normally give up but I know the theory behind it works from my
experience at the factory.  I'm apparently ignorant in the physics of
vacuum.

I'm also familiar with other desoldering tools including plunger and
squeeze bulb solder suckers, solder wick and built in suckers on
soldering irons.  I've found them all lacking in one way or another
compared to the gizmo I'm trying to imitate from the factory.

Any ideas from you guys about the error of my ways will be greatly
appreciated.

Thanks a bunch,
Rush

I appreciate the 5 responses I received and all your advice is well
taken. I admit to being obsessed with this challenge. I'm retired
from industrial electronics and now consider myself only a hobbyist so
the commercial equivalents of what I'm trying to do are just not
feasible.

I still don't understand why the small pumps used in commercial
desoldering equipment far outperform the shop vac I had tried. The
shop vac experiment was only an overkill step in an attempt to begin
fine tuning the solder sucker idea.

Thanks again for your input,
Rush

 

[Jim Yanik]

zekfrivo@zekfrivolous.com (GregS) wrote in
news:i0iabg$r25$3@usenet01.srv.cis.pitt.edu:

In article
732fbe89-97bd-499f-ad18-99066ece2603@d37g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>,
rush14 <rush14@columbus.rr.com> wrote:
On Jun 29, 11:05=A0am, rush14 <rus...@columbus.rr.com> wrote:
I'm attempting to fabricate a continuous action solder sucker along
the lines of those used at work

when repairing circuit boards. =A0They were fast, clean, easy to use
and prevented damage to the circuit boards from excessive prolonged
heat.

Unfortunately I'm now retired and the factory work has all been
outsourced overseas. =A0There's nobody left now from work who would
know about this.

As I recall they consisted of a vacuum source (unknown to me), a
flexible hose connected to a small cylinder with a tuft of steel
wool inside to trap solder and a =A0teflon sucking tip at the other
end of the cylinder.

Apparently there is more to vacuum technology than I imagined
because all my attempts have so far failed miserably. =A0When I
adapt a short (~3 foot) flexible hose to my vacuum source the
suction at the end of the hose is almost non-existent.

My first attempt was using the air intake of a 12V automotive tire
inflator, an idea I got from extensive Google searching, although
not intended for that purpose. There seemed to be plenty of suction
at the air intake itself but almost no suction at the end of the
flexible hose.

I then decided to go to extremes and adapted the hose to the vacuum
port of a powerful shop vac. =A0I actually expected the hose to
collapse from excessive vacuum but instead there was again almost no
suction at the end of the hose. =A0I then added a secondary intake
port to alleviate what I thought might be excessive load on the shop
vac then tried using the shop vac exhaust port to create a vacuum.
=A0Neither attempt worked.

I would normally give up but I know the theory behind it works from
my experience at the factory. =A0I'm apparently ignorant in the
physics of vacuum.

I'm also familiar with other desoldering tools including plunger and
squeeze bulb solder suckers, solder wick and built in suckers on
soldering irons. =A0I've found them all lacking in one way or
another compared to the gizmo I'm trying to imitate from the
factory.

Any ideas from you guys about the error of my ways will be greatly
appreciated.

Thanks a bunch,
Rush

I appreciate the 5 responses I received and all your advice is well
taken. I admit to being obsessed with this challenge. I'm retired
from industrial electronics and now consider myself only a hobbyist so
the commercial equivalents of what I'm trying to do are just not
feasible.

I still don't understand why the small pumps used in commercial
desoldering equipment far outperform the shop vac I had tried. The
shop vac experiment was only an overkill step in an attempt to begin
fine tuning the solder sucker idea.


High volume is not necessarily high vacuum. You will have to measure
the vacuum. My little 170 cfm radon fan will suck two inches of water.

greg

you can buy a venturi vacuum generator from Harbor Freight at very low
cost,they make one for evacuation auto air conditioning systems.
It needs a compressed air line. it will work continuously,off a small
compressor.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Jim Yanik wrote:

zekfrivo@zekfrivolous.com (GregS) wrote in
news:i0iabg$r25$3@usenet01.srv.cis.pitt.edu:

In article
732fbe89-97bd-499f-ad18-99066ece2603@d37g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>,
rush14 <rush14@columbus.rr.com> wrote:
On Jun 29, 11:05=A0am, rush14 <rus...@columbus.rr.com> wrote:
I'm attempting to fabricate a continuous action solder sucker along
the lines of those used at work

when repairing circuit boards. =A0They were fast, clean, easy to use
and prevented damage to the circuit boards from excessive prolonged
heat.

Unfortunately I'm now retired and the factory work has all been
outsourced overseas. =A0There's nobody left now from work who would
know about this.

As I recall they consisted of a vacuum source (unknown to me), a
flexible hose connected to a small cylinder with a tuft of steel
wool inside to trap solder and a =A0teflon sucking tip at the other
end of the cylinder.

Apparently there is more to vacuum technology than I imagined
because all my attempts have so far failed miserably. =A0When I
adapt a short (~3 foot) flexible hose to my vacuum source the
suction at the end of the hose is almost non-existent.

My first attempt was using the air intake of a 12V automotive tire
inflator, an idea I got from extensive Google searching, although
not intended for that purpose. There seemed to be plenty of suction
at the air intake itself but almost no suction at the end of the
flexible hose.

I then decided to go to extremes and adapted the hose to the vacuum
port of a powerful shop vac. =A0I actually expected the hose to
collapse from excessive vacuum but instead there was again almost no
suction at the end of the hose. =A0I then added a secondary intake
port to alleviate what I thought might be excessive load on the shop
vac then tried using the shop vac exhaust port to create a vacuum.
=A0Neither attempt worked.

I would normally give up but I know the theory behind it works from
my experience at the factory. =A0I'm apparently ignorant in the
physics of vacuum.

I'm also familiar with other desoldering tools including plunger and
squeeze bulb solder suckers, solder wick and built in suckers on
soldering irons. =A0I've found them all lacking in one way or
another compared to the gizmo I'm trying to imitate from the
factory.

Any ideas from you guys about the error of my ways will be greatly
appreciated.

Thanks a bunch,
Rush

I appreciate the 5 responses I received and all your advice is well
taken. I admit to being obsessed with this challenge. I'm retired
from industrial electronics and now consider myself only a hobbyist so
the commercial equivalents of what I'm trying to do are just not
feasible.

I still don't understand why the small pumps used in commercial
desoldering equipment far outperform the shop vac I had tried. The
shop vac experiment was only an overkill step in an attempt to begin
fine tuning the solder sucker idea.


High volume is not necessarily high vacuum. You will have to measure
the vacuum. My little 170 cfm radon fan will suck two inches of water.

greg


you can buy a venturi vacuum generator from Harbor Freight at very low
cost,they make one for evacuation auto air conditioning systems.
It needs a compressed air line. it will work continuously,off a small
compressor.

They also have 2.5 & 3.5 CFM electric vacuum pumps.


--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.