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DIY desolding tool project.

V

Volenti

New Member
I aquired (from a friends shed clean out) an old refrigerant salvaging unit, the primary part of which is a powerfull vacuum pump, so I decided to have a crack at making a desoldering tool.

As a feasability test I've rigged it up quickly and roughly as just a sucker, using a spare spring loaded desolder tool as a short cut.

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The valve doesn't do anything, it was just the way I had to assemble the connections and hose bits that came with it.

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The slightly modified spring based "donor", mods are so minor it could be put back into service is need be.

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Filter media (nylon scouring pads) so I don't end up sucking blobs of solder into the pump.

I'm quite impressed with it's performance even with this rough implimentation, greedly slurps up solder and begs for more :D

Next step is to organise a foot pedal switch for it, or a relay driving switch on the tool it's self to activate the pump only when I need it.

Idealy I'd like to turn it into a real desoldering station with it's own heat source, that will be an interesting challenge.
 
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That's great! I have a solder sucker that sort of works, but that's a conversation piece :D.
 
My concern with your design is clogging the filter. Have you thought of a vacuum trap bottle reservoir of some kind. This would keep the solder flash out of the filter. I know...adds complexity and one more design headache.

Otherwise very cool start.
 
cubby01 said:
My concern with your design is clogging the filter. Have you thought of a vacuum trap bottle reservoir of some kind. This would keep the solder flash out of the filter. I know...adds complexity and one more design headache.

Otherwise very cool start.
Click to expand...

Yea this was only a temporary measure to protect the pump but it's holding up pretty well so far and replacement disks are pretty trivial to cut out, I'd get over a dozen out of a single pad.

Been slack and haven't had a chance to attack the foot pedal switch, too many projects, too little time, I still have the home theater to finish!:D
 
Sweet repurpose. I actually am kind of jealous of the vacuum pump, I'd like to have one for AC and appliance work but they are darn expensive. Weller made a desoldering wand that mated to their soldeing station and had a pickup tube integrated into the wand. You could probably pick one of those up fairly cheap.
 
Most people for A/C service use an old compressor from a refridgerator or something. They then solder connections on. Only problem is you have to add refridgerant oil, and it spits oil. It's really not designed for this, but people do.

For a lot less money, about $15, you can buy a venturi that turns your air compressor (yeah, you gotta have one of those, but if you do....) into a vaccum pump.
http://www.harborfreight.com/air-vacuum-pump-with-r134a-and-r12-connectors-96677.html
It's noisy, but works.

JW
 
j4570 said:
Most people for A/C service use an old compressor from a refridgerator or something. They then solder connections on. Only problem is you have to add refridgerant oil, and it spits oil. It's really not designed for this, but people do.

For a lot less money, about $15, you can buy a venturi that turns your air compressor (yeah, you gotta have one of those, but if you do....) into a vaccum pump.
http://www.harborfreight.com/air-vacuum-pump-with-r134a-and-r12-connectors-96677.html
It's noisy, but works.

JW
Click to expand...
Thanks, JW. I've seen the old timers with their compressor rigs and they seemed to pump forever to get the things to pull. Maybe it's the AC guys I hang with, lol.
That venturi rig looks like it would work but I don't imagine that's EPA approved.:D I was checking the HF vacuum pumps and they are not too high priced. I have an almost full 20 lb. tank of R-22 that is begging to be used.
 
Well I've been a busy little beaver, made up my foot switch, used a push on/push off mains switch from a junked reciever, pulled it apart and removed the little C pin turning it into a momentary on switch;

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mounted the switch assembly into a junction box;

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wired it into a mains power socket;

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and mounted it all on to a bit of mdf scrap sealed with bondcrete (water based sealer similar to PVA glue);

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Then I grabbed a 5mm (~1/4'') solid soldering iron tip and with some various sized copper tube I've made up a hollow suction tip and using some solid copper wire to both hold it in place and act as a heat transfer medium I braized the pair together;

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The copper tubing is only present in the area where the braizing is and to the tip, you can see the join where it's then braized into a thin walled stainless steel tube to slow heat loss up into the rest of the vacuum assembly.

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Silicone tubing linking the hot bit to the vacuum chamber/solder collector/filter thingy;

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used another small piece of SS tubing to prevent the silicone tubing from collapsing as it was clamped into this end fitting;

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Had a friend tig weld up the push button hole I was using previously as a vacuum fitting point and tapped in a proper connection at the back;

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whole unit;

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pic of it's handywork on a double sided board that was previously giving me some grief;

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PWNT
 
I do like the idea of a vacuum pump for removing the solder
Ive often found it hard to squeeze the bulb, hold the item in place, hold the iron in place, and have a clean removal of the solder without damaging anything
you need a couple pair of hands to do it properly...
this is a great idea, im going to have to find myself a small vacuum pump now and maybe apply this to that cheap 11 dollar desoldering iron from rat shack ;)
the filer media is a great idea, dont want any solder getting sucked into that pump nor the hose clogging things up!
 
Volenti said:
This is no place for cheap/practical solutions :P

I could have gone all Tim Allen and used the manifold vacuum of a V8 to power it...
Click to expand...

Agree it is a little boring!

But as a base for an auto version it is a good place to start? You could remove the bulb attach a trap and hook up a pump? What about an aquarium pump? Granted they pump air out but there must me an intake?
 
stoutblock said:
Agree it is a little boring!

But as a base for an auto version it is a good place to start? You could remove the bulb attach a trap and hook up a pump? What about an aquarium pump? Granted they pump air out but there must me an intake?
Click to expand...

Yea that radioshack one would make a good starting point, we don't have anything like that down here (not that I saw anyway) otherwise that's what I would have used as my base as well.

Not entirely sure an aquarium pump will be up to the task, I happened to have a spare dual one lying around (I keep fish) so I had a look at it;

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in this particular one there are little locator tabs on the black pump bodies to make sure they only go on one way, if you snip them off, then rotate the bodies 180 degrees and screw them back on, it will suck instead of blow.

Hooked it up to my foot switch and the iron and gave it a test, it just worked ok, but the vacuum line was very short and there was no filter to restrict it (ideal sucking conditions), perhaps a 4 outlet one would perform better.
 
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