So it turns out...

[Consul]

... that a PCB can be too good.

I bought a microphone kit from MicrophoneParts.com, which includes a new capsule. The donor mic is an MXL V67G. So far, so good. It's a pretty high-quality kit with all of the hand-matching and selection done for you, and the PCBs are of extremely high quality, with through-plated holes.

Those are the problem.

I had accidentally "plugged" one of these holes with solder. Desoldering wick doesn't work. Solder suckers don't work. I tried working the lead of the resistor (thank goodness it was just a resistor and not something very heat sensitive like a transistor) through the hole with the iron on the solder, but that just resulted in metal fatigue breaking the lead right at the resistor. A few minutes and one vise later and I was able to solder a new lead onto it, although really, I could've grabbed another 100k out of the parts bin.

In the end, I ended up bodging the resistor in a "surface mount" style, connecting to the next part over with a solder bridge (it's supposed to be connected). And then I wrote them an email to tell them that they might want to consider using slightly lower quality PCBs in the future that can actually be desoldered with tools that hobbyists might actually have.

Sorry, I guess I'm just venting now.

 

[ruairioflaherty]

Drill.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Small drill in a pin vise.

JR

 

[PRR]

> I tried working the lead of the resistor ....through the hole with the iron on the solder

Don't use tinned copper.

Use IRON. Sewing needle, etc. Tarnished iron, chromed iron, anything but tinned iron.

Solder won't stick to iron. (Not with the fluxes we use in electronics.)

 

[gar381]

Hakko 808 is your best friend!!

GARY

 

[Consul]

I actually tried to drill it out, but none of my bits were small enough.

I've been thinking about investing in some more serious tools. However, it seems like DIY is going the way of small-scale manufacture, where maybe I breadboard a few things, draw up the schematics, PCBs, and layouts, then send it all off to get made for me. I'm getting caught between those two worlds and I don't like it.

But I've lamented about this before.

 

[volker]

If the solder wick doesn't work for you, you need to work on your technique .

The plated-through holes can take way more abuse than the ordinary one-sided pcb will take before the copper seperates from the board. If it doesn't suck out the solder you're simply not applying enough heat in the right place.

 

[shabtek]

the resistor lead is going to transfer the heat to melt the solder--then suck it out--need good seal at sucker tip, so a vice will help position board or iron while your hands do the other operations...need good thermal transfer/wetted tip

 

[bruce0]

+1 Hakko 808

if that doesn't work... then

clean the Hakko 808 nozzle

Jeff Steiger once told me that if you have a Hakko 808 you find yourself looking for things to de-solder... and he is right!