Wish I had one yesterday. I'm no PCB soldering expert but trying to take off an opto from a TZ clock PCB was a teo man job. The wife pulling (like all good wives should do) and me pushing with a hot poker...I mean soldering iron.
Would one of these desoldering guns help in such a case as well as replacing pins on PCB's etc etc or am I mistaken on the discussion?
The trick to taking off most components without a desoldering gun is to cut the legs of the component off. Once you do this remove the component and heat the leg. You should then be able to easily slide the leg out of the socket with no force. If it requires any force STOP and re-examine. Whenever you try to pull something out and it resists is when you'll probably pull a pad and/or a trace. This trick works with about everything but axial lead caps and chips.
Its obvious when you think about it. I'll commit this to memory next time. I'm not sure though if I had the luxury the be able to cut off the legs on the opto but can't be sure now. Thanks for the tip Chuck and avoidance of any future disappointments by way of wrecking pcb's due to inexperience.
