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Solder Vacuum
This is a great little tool for solder rework. It allows you to pull the molten solder out of a connection or via. To use it you simply depress the plunger, heat up your solder, place the nozzle over the solder you want to remove and finally just push the button. The piston pops up and the solder disappears! This solder vacuum has a metal body with a plastic handle and a hard plastic nozzle.
Solder Vacuum Product Help and Resources
Core Skill: DIY
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Skill Level: Noob - Basic assembly is required. You may need to provide your own basic tools like a screwdriver, hammer or scissors. Power tools or custom parts are not required. Instructions will be included and easy to follow. Sewing may be required, but only with included patterns.
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Customer Reviews
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If you press this tight against your skin, press the plunger down until it clicks while not allowing any air to escape and then press the button, it gives you a tiny super hickey.
Flux fumes getting to you, eh? Take a breather outside for a bit... (the amazing place where you can't even see the ceiling).
People always complain about these clogging. All you have to do is reset the pump before the solder hardens inside.
You may want to fix the description. I just bought two of these over the radio shack ones because these were listed as 'hq metal housing' and the vacuums I just recieved are plastic, just like radio shack's.
I always worry about breathing in lead dust while using these. It's basically an atomizer spray for liquid lead. Am I just paranoid?
A little bit ya. Solder likes to stick to its self so it doesn't form dust unless you use some kind of special grinder that's neither water cooled nor heats up enough to melt the solder. Also, lead won't turn into a gas until about 1750 *C, which is far hotter than any soldering iron will get without setting the PCB or your hand on fire.
I did my research on this because I'm also a wee bit paranoid about entirely random things sometimes.
I've been using these for YEARS.. they work fine, but they are cheap, so expect cheap. usually the threads between the two halves strip. This time I'm going to put some teflon tape on the threads, and duct tape the outside to get a bit more life out of it. I think I've gone through 4-5 of them for this reason. Never had one clog though..
I'm glad sparkfun has these, radioshack wants $15 for ONE and I'd have to wait 3 weeks for it to come in stock. And they wonder why their business is not doing well... :|
Oddly enough ever since Ive switched to using good quality Wick i hardly use my solder vacuum. Only if you somehow manage to create a gigantic blob or need to empty a stubborn hole is it of any use.
IMO the tip needs to be flexible, not hard because i can never get a good seal before the solder re-hardens. :( does anyone have any tips?
Don't remove the iron until you press the button. Good enough seal at 90 degrees. Solder is the flexible part, maybe add some.
Bulb syringes do pretty well at removing solder also. I can't give you a price comparison as mine have been gifted from hospitals and baby showers. They are easy to melt though and not for use on baby after desoldering.
I didn't get these from SparkFun, but have what seems to be an identical one from Princess Auto, so keep in mind I'm speaking about potentially different ones. Also keep in mind it is heavily used every day in an open University electronics lab.
It works great, much better than the giant plastic one we had before. I don't think the body is metal, just shiny-painted plastic, but it really doesn't affect the performance. The button lets the spring do its work without getting caught up, the tip doesn't melt even with the iron cranked to max, and it's all still looking new after much punishment.
The threads holding it together look questionable, but we've never had to take it apart. They don't get loose by themselves either.
Honestly, it's a good product if it's the same as we have. For $4, this is seriously decent. I usually detest cheap tools, but these work well!
Oh, and it doesn't really clog. Once in a while if you're just dumping solder into the thing, it can be a push to get everything out, but that's abusing the tool a bit.
An easy way to unclog these is to put the tip of your soldering iron into the tip of the vacuum and push the button. Hope this helps.
Works pretty darn good, replacement tips would be nice but at this price who really cares!
Is it possible that sparkfun could sell a vacuum desoldering station?
Does this clog up very often? The radioshack one sure does...
I just got mine and it hasn't clogged or anything yet (and I did a few things before designing, so I had to use it a bit). I think this is a ton easier to use than a solder wick. Like 10 times easier. Also, has a nice metal construction and everything :)
I think wick still has its place, though. I've noticed these don't work if it's just a little bit of solder (like on small through-hole).
Pretty cool, i have one of these and works perfect.
Metal, much better than the radio shack special.