This has been covered from time to time on the forum You may want to do a search for more infor. If there is not a primer on soldering, maybe there should be. At the risk of annoying some of the old timers..here goes!
If you want to do a complete recap you need to get a manual (eBay). Get a good quality 40+ watt soldering iron. I like adjustable irons (set to 700 deg) with a variety of tip styles. Higher wattage irons let you get on and get off in 3-5 seconds or you may lift a pad or delaminate a board. This is also helpful as the (-) side of the caps are generally attached to a large ground plane. This can take lots of heat to remove. Same with terminals where there may be a transistor leg, caps, resistors etc. Get some "solder wick" (tm) de-soldering braid, I like it better than the spring loaded vacuum pump thingy. Get liquid solder flux, SN60 or 63 rosin core solder (prefer 63 melts at a lower temp). NO silver or acid core solder(for doing plumbing). You well wreck the boards. Good quality needle nose pliers and dikes (cutters)-small, not the ones for automotive or house wiring! Like my dad said “the most expensive tools are the cheapest”
Clean the component leads and tin with solder. Clean the pad (see below). A touch of solder to the iron. Get both parters hot at the same time and flow some solder. Slightly concave and smooth and shinny is the order of the day.
Remember..3-5 seconds and off.
As far as clean up goes, use isopropyl alcohol with a small short bristled brush. I lop off about half of an acid brush. I guess a small paint brush would work. The bristles need to be short and stiff enough to get in some good scrubbing action. Scrub the joint with alcohol then sop up the mess with a chunk of paper towel, the brush and a little more alcohol. It will leave the joint smooth and shinny. I used it all over the PCB on my Scott and cleaned off all sorts of old solder flux, smoke and general gunk. BTW, this is the same process used in Aerospace to clean boards.
Instructions? Use a scrap board first. Find someone with a Mil Std training manual for soldering. I wonder if you can find a DVD on EBAY? :thmbsp:
Glenn