EMRFD Message Archive 6503

Message Date From Subject
6503 2011-07-22 10:21:27 john reconditioning previously used PC boards
This morning I needed some scrap PC board for an up coming project. I found an old box made of double sided PC board in the junk box that would yield the correct size slab of board I needed. Upon disassembling the box there remained mounds of solder where I had tack soldered the box together previously. Not wanting to waste my solder wick, I used a course file to remove the solder mounds from the PC board, carefully insuring that the file was moved parallel to the surface with each stroke. It took only a few minutes to clean up three boards to a very smooth surface. I then took some fine steel wool to brighten the surface of the board for soldering the new project. I've found that the time expended is equal to or less than using the solder wick in the past and saves the wick for future uses. John Lawson K5IRK
6510 2011-07-22 21:52:46 John Kolb Re: reconditioning previously used PC boards
Heating the solder to a molten state and then scraping with an exacto
knife removes most of it
before going to the solder wick or file.

John
KK6IL


At 10:21 AM 7/22/2011, you wrote:
>This morning I needed some scrap PC board for an up coming project.
>I found an old box made of double sided PC board in the junk box
>that would yield the correct size slab of board I needed. Upon
>disassembling the box there remained mounds of solder where I had
>tack soldered the box together previously. Not wanting to waste my
>solder wick, I used a course file to remove the solder mounds from
>the PC board, carefully insuring that the file was moved parallel to
>the surface with each stroke. It took only a few minutes to clean
>up three boards to a very smooth surface. I then took some fine
>steel wool to brighten the surface of the board for soldering the
>new project. I've found that the time expended is equal to or less
>than using the solder wick in the past and saves the wick for future
>uses. John Lawson K5IRK
6513 2011-07-23 06:51:14 Alan Melia Re: reconditioning previously used PC boards
Hi, for that kind of job a length of good coverage RG58 braid flattened and
treated with a little flux works quite well though you need a reasonably
beefy iron. I "invented" this for myself as a schoolboy in the 1950s when
recovering components for projects, long before I ever saw reels of it
offered for sale. Only I used scrap TV coax at that time. It works quite
well for recovering proto eurocards too.

Alan G3NYK
6514 2011-07-23 08:19:19 Tim Re: reconditioning previously used PC boards
I always thought "previously used" was synonymous with "pre-tinned" :-)

I enjoy the EMRFD and community website pics where I can see that the boards had previous generations and uses. The apparently randomly drilled little holes are a real bonus and they come at no extra charge!