Tips for removing Grayhill rotary switch from PCB

[fazeka]

Hi all,

Have to remove a couple of Grayhill rotary switches from a PCB to reuse for another project. Not looking forward to it... I only have an Hakko 808 and a Weller WTCPT with some desoldering braid.

Is this possible? Is there a chance I could destroy the switch with all that heat? There's a lot of holes with solder holding all those terminals in... please share any tips/tricks/advice.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[bruno2000]

Get some soldering "tweezers".  Heat all the pins at once.  Single deck is easy.  Multiple decks, not so much.
Best,
Bruno2000

 

[JohnRoberts]

The switches are generally more robust than old PCBs wrt temperature... 

A solder sucker might be useful.

JR

 

[gar381]

I have had great luck using the 808 on single decks.
Like Bruno says multi decks not so much.

Hope you get them off the pcb successfully.

Best

GARY

 

[ruairioflaherty]

I've never had any luck with braid and prefer a solder sucker.  Remove as much solder from each pin as you can one by one.  Then, if you have a heat gun consider asking someone to help and keep all pins up to temp while you move from pin to pin as fast as possible and wiggle free.  The switch may get too hot to hold and pull on with your bare fingers, use a glove on that hand.

 

[Gene Pink]

Have to remove a couple of Grayhill rotary switches from a PCB to reuse for another project.

You didn't mention if you need to save the donor PC board. If not, this opens up some possibilities, think  "Divide and Conquer".

Got a Dremel with a tiny saw blade?

Gene.

 

[tomas1808]

Get one of these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft50m8UU5WQ

It can be had for quite cheap if you look in the right places.  It makes desoldering devices with multiple pins absolutely trivial. I wouldn't be able to live without mine. I would destroy boards all the time when trying to remove ICs without the proper tools.  If you are like me this desoldering station will save you dozens of boards and you will also be able to reuse the parts you remove.

Don't expect  amazing build quality. It is cheap but if you learn how to maintain it then it should last and should pay itself many times over. My unit would clog every now and then and it was a pain in the ass to clear.  Then I realized that you are supposed to use the cleaning rods provided with the unit every time you stop using it. Now I don't get clogs, ever.  It does struggle with thick multilayer boards though, so keep that in mind.

 

[benb]

Put your soldering iron (gun) on high or full heat. No, you won't be (or shouldn't be) holding it on the pins that long.

Hold the tip on two adjacent pins, or worst case, a single pin. The solder should melt in a second or two, but about three seconds should definitely be all you need. If not, the iron is either not hot enough or it's too small (it doesn't have enough thermal mass - a tip you use for surface mount is almost certainly too small). Remove the tip and immediately bang the board, solder side down, on a table or work surface (that you don't mind getting banged up and coated with hot solder). This will get rid of at least 90 percent of the solder on the pin(s).  When you've done this for all the pins, use a small screwdriver or similar tool to move each pin back and forth a few times - the mechanical bond of whatever solder is left should break easily. When you've done all the pins you should be able to pull it out.

 

[CJ]

get out the dikes and snip away at it,

sometimes they use holes that make it a press fit, this is not fun,

 

[shabtek]

Hakko.
Fresh solder to aid in heat transfer.
Be patient and quick.

 

[nielsk]

What I do (no special tool required):
take  piece of wire, no need for heavy gauge... a piece of drain wire from a twisted pair cable works well
Thoroughly tin about 1" of the end, leave enough length to be able to hold the wire when heated.
Bend the tinned end so that it is about the length of the row of pins and the rest of the wire works as a handle
lay the tinned end down along the row of pins, heat and add enough solder, wiping the tip along the length so solder flows along all pins
remove switch! Often a small screwdriver under the switch  helps to pry it out while the solder is flowing.

Most lead holes are small because of the pin spacing, it is unlikely you will ever be able to free all the pins required by de-soldering.
There is usually enough play to do the front (1 or 2) pole pins, then the contact pins, it may take 2 passes on each going back & forth...
For multi deck it requires the "dremel" trick as described above, or a solder pot to flow all pins at once, but most likely if you are salvaging a switch you will not be re-using the host PCB...

 

[Andy Peters]

Hi all,

Have to remove a couple of Grayhill rotary switches from a PCB to reuse for another project. Not looking forward to it... I only have an Hakko 808 and a Weller WTCPT with some desoldering braid.

Is this possible? Is there a chance I could destroy the switch with all that heat? There's a lot of holes with solder holding all those terminals in... please share any tips/tricks/advice.

Use a low-melting-temperature solder. Basically, you use this stuff like regular solder wire, and when it mixes with standard solder it lowers the melting point of the whole mess to something much easier to remove.

The "air bath" or board pre-heater helps, too, as it makes the board act less like a heat sink.

 

[RuudNL]

Use a paint stripper to heat all the pins at once...  ;D

 

[jsteiger]

Get a solder pot.