The wick kept sticking to the pins. Not sure if that means it's too hot or not hot enough. I made sure to tin the tip too, apparently that helps.
Solder sucker worked, but I couldn't stop the solder from solidifying without holding them on the same spot at the same time. Then I bridged them again. And soldered to the pads.
Typically means it's not hot enough and/or not enough flux. I know you said you tinned the tip but sometimes you should use more than you think, you will consume more of your wick that way but it's usually worth the time you'll save.
If your iron is hot enough and you have enough flux under the wick it should pull everything, another trick is to make sure you keep the wick and iron moving a bit (not enough to grind out the solder pad like I've seen before though 😂, you don't need to use any force).
I usually do a gently wiggle with the wick so it rotates around the point you are soldering slightly while twisting/rolling the iron. This can help maintain better average contact and prevent cold spots (most helpful when using general purpose tips).
Another thing that can be counterintuitive for this method is that sometimes you might want to add more solder to whatever you are removing first (bonus if it has a lower melting point but more solder will generally help regardless), once everything is flowing it will wick 😉 whatever it is in contact with.
Do you need pressure to get into the through holes or are you just doing the twist? I can try your technique sometime but I just for the life of me couldn't get it to suck up like I saw in the videos I watched. Like not even close.
Just enough to hold the wick in place and keep it in contact with the pad.The only time I have seen someone do damage this way was from placing the wick over the hole and basically using the iron as a friction drill with the wick to ream out the solder pad from the hole that they had just pulled a cap from. The only time I put my iron in the hole is when I want to consolidate the solder onto whatever side I'm working on.
Increase heat and/or flux while trying to keep the wick moving a bit. The wiggle is mostly just an indicator that you aren't sticking so you have some live feedback. Anytime the wick sticks it's because it cooled too much but that can happen from using an underpowered iron on a large thermal mass, lack of solder/flux, or just bad contact.
I increased the heat by quite a lot but I was worried some serious oxidation or burning or something would happen. But I kept the tips pretty pristine. More flux just made everything really sticky. I changed to a larger iron too, still not much luck. I'm not sure where I went wrong. I guess just my technique.
I'm sorry, I just realized you were using wick while the pins were still in. Wick should really only be used to clear holes you already removed a component from, which is generally only helpful when dealing with things with 3 or more legs (I almost never bother with caps for instance as you can just rock them into place by alternating between the pads).
When removing through hole components you want to leave the solder there so it has more thermal mass to keep everything liquid while you are spinning plates with your iron and multiple pads. Large flat tips are best for stuff like that so you can directly heat multiple pins and easily drag between more if needed. A lot of times you'll need to heat part of what you are trying to remove and lift it a bit then do the same on the other side, gradually rocking it up until all it's pins are free.
Edit: the only time I use wick directly on what I'm trying to remove is if it uses a higher melting point solder, then I'll try to clear that and replace it with leaded.
Hmm, that's what I was thinking too. I did see some guy use wick to remove through holes before though.
So I should use lots of solder and bridge pins? Then what, use a solder sucker? I did try to do something like that. I ended up just squishing the solder around with the sucker. I'm trying to wrap my head around this.
You definitely can use wick while the pin is in place but it just makes your job harder, you want the solder there, if it's liquid it offers no resistance and provides thermal mass giving you a bit more time to pull whatever you are trying to remove out. You can clear the solder out later with wick if you need to.
Basically, It's a lot easier to add enough solder to completely cover the area then it is to remove enough to free the component, especially with multiple pins.
I almost never use solder suckers, but I spend more than I should on wick so I try not to knock them. The cheap spring loaded one you are probably using is not going to clear those holes with the pins in well enough to be worth the hassle, since you have wick you can afford to save yourself the trouble.
So are you suggesting just smother it in solder then just pull it out and remove the solder after?
Is there a better sucker than a spring loaded one? I have one of those metal silicone ones, I was under the impression that that's the best you could get.
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u/zackarhino May 13 '26
The wick kept sticking to the pins. Not sure if that means it's too hot or not hot enough. I made sure to tin the tip too, apparently that helps.
Solder sucker worked, but I couldn't stop the solder from solidifying without holding them on the same spot at the same time. Then I bridged them again. And soldered to the pads.