So, I’m pretty new at soldering and I’m looking for some advice on how to not ruin a via while removing solder…

I was trying to remove the solder from a original Xbox 1.0 motherboard and I burnt the shit out of a via and caused issues with several others.

https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/d2d4a90b-aab2-4521-9cbb-25e3cd305ae7.jpeg

I was able to fix it and everything is working but I want to do better.

https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/b2d04556-025e-404d-940d-886247cdb97c.jpeg

I used a pointed tip, flux, and added some of my own solder to the via. I then cleaned, added new flux, and used solder wick to remove the solder. Some points, would NOT melt at all. I kept increasing the temp to 430°c and it finally melted and took everything with it.

Now, I know I fucked up and used too much heat. I probably should have used my rework station and a solder sucker but I JUST got the rework station and didn’t want to popcorn the OG Xbox board… The solder wouldn’t stay melted long enough from my iron for the sucker to work so I used wick.

  • skankhunt42OP
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    3 days ago

    I understand, thank you.

    The reason I burned the via was because I couldn’t get the old solder out and didn’t know how to do it safely. Sounds like the solution is to pre-heat the board, use leaded solder, and try a larger/different tip.

    What I shouldn’t do is use low melt or just keep increasing the temperature.