Last year, I finally bought the ProKit station. I LOVE THIS THING!!! It's taken away a lot of the pain of difficult to unsolder components. Small to large (ish). As for the wick, I sometimes use that in situations where the gun tip is too big. BUT, what I started doing to get it to wick better, is to now dip it in liquid rosin flux. It's like night and day. The wick now sucks the solder up so much faster and more complete. Even through hole components, it usually gets a lot of the "down inside" solder too. But I'll use the ProKit every time that I can. It's awesome!
3:44 the manual for this product states not to remove the rear cap so as not to negatively affect the suction of the device. It says to remove the nozzle for cleaning and to re-lubricate the interior of the cylinder with a grease to keep it resistant to solder sticking.
I've been using the Engineer Solder Sucker for long time , for me it's the most practical desoldering method I've ever used over the years .. quick and effective.. very well made
Thank you for your informative de-soldering video, which I found very helpful. After having tried to de-solder some component's this morning I was left frustrated as my attempts were unsuccessful. My de-soldering caused nothing be component and board damage with with solder pads lifting from the circuit board. The time I spent carrying out this activity was also totally unacceptable. I have a solder sucker, just like the first on you owned. Absolutely useless and a waste of time! So the Pro Japanese one you demonstrated would be a vast improvement. However, I think the Prokit De-Soldering unit would be the most effective and efficient tool for me! Thanks again for the video👍
I have the OG version of that green and black station, called the ZD-985. Looks like the same thing with new plastic. It's ok-ish. Would be nice to see a Hakko comparison of those higher end ones. Thanks for the video! This is good for people new into desoldering pumps :)
Hello, greetings from Slovakia. I have a Proskit, I am very satisfied with this station. I have set the temperature to 370°C, this is a suitable temperature so that the station does not clog. Flux at this station is better not to use because of the filter in the glass cylinder.
Thanks for the info! I’ve been looking at desoldering stations for a while now, but I still have bad memories of owning a Hakko desoldering gun around 30 years ago, and it was the most horrible piece of equipment I’ve ever had. I spent more time unblocking and repairing it than I did using it. Your Prokit sounds like it it doesn’t suffer the same problems.
I used an 80's era Hakko desoldering station for 15 years as a repair tech followed by an Aoyue unit for another 5 years. I suspect that the spring inside the glass cylinder serves no useful purpose; you're probably better off with the old school technique of putting some medium grade steel wool into the glass tube, which not only catches the Solder but ialso filters out some of the rosin flux fumes and keeps them off of the ceramic filter, and it even helps dissipate some heat so you don't have as much hot air going into the vacuum pump.
@@vladimiralena9129 , in the older Hakko, and more recent Aoyue desoldering guns, the ceramic filter is held in the tube by friction (the Aoyue's tube is plastic and has molded tabs to keep the filter in place).I tried using the tapered spring supplied with the Aoyue gun that is supposed to collect the solder but I didn't care for it and went back to using a wad of steel wool in the collection tube, like I had done with the old Hakko.
I had a coworker that would use a air compressor nozzle to blow off the solder. I was shocked because none of his work had ever failed but I was sure there had to be hot solder blown everywhere
hmm that’s actually pretty clever.. I’m trying to desolder a bunch of through hole switches right now and I happen to have an air compressor right next to my bench.. I might have to give this a try. Are there any more details here? Does he use a heat gun or iron to melt it? Does he use flux?
Hot tip (pardon the pun) for the Proskit gun: keep the suction on for a good few seconds after removing from the joint to greatly reduce the amount of blockages.
The tip of a desoldering iron tip is supposed to be tinned, so that it makes good thermal contact. The hollow tube, on the other hand, is stainless steel so that solder won’t stick. However, flux residues can “snag” solder. The original comment is correct: one should continue suction to ensure solder doesn’t stop halfway through, where the heat may not be enough to keep it molten, especially if there’s flux residues in between. (That’s why some professional desoldering tools, like Pace, automatically run the vacuum a certain time, even if the button was pressed less.)
I used compressed air from a ordinary compressor, works really well, desolders beautifully, but chucks tiny blobs of solder everywhere. Fine if harvesting parts from an old pcb, possible short circuit risk if repairing.
@@ZombieLincoln666 I only own a soldering iron. I have used compressed air because its quick and easy I do not bother with desoldering first but I guess it would be alot less messy
Pro tip! You can mod the cheap solder suckers by buying a 2-4cm piece of 5mm ID/8-10mm OD silicone tubing and putting it on the nylon tip. The silicone needs to be very soft and bendy, something like gasoline tubing looks the same but is way too stiff. This way it's like the engineer where it's a lot easier to get a vacuum as opposed to being impossible with the stiff end. Try using the engineer without the silicone tip... You can also cut a V slot for the soldering iron on one side of the silicone tubing. Just flip the tube if u need the flat side. One tube lasts years easily and costs pennies
Thanks so much for doing this video! I’m definitely going to order that engineer solder sucker as I’ve gone through many of the cheaper and had the same problems you mention. Am going to use your link. That seems much better! I did order, finally, a sucker solder station, and am happy with mine, except before soldering I have to wet a sponge assembly and clean after. If it ever breaks down I’ll try that one you had. Of course wick is always a must just in case.
I agree that the *Engineer solder pump* leaves most of the other manual pumps on the rubbish heap. *Wicking braid:* works much better if choosing a top brand like MG Chemicals and one impregnated with proper rosin flux not the No Clean kind. Oh and if you can remove the component without removing the solder just melting it instead, the braid does well for cleanup. See videos on the trick of desoldering multi-pin components so they drop out. *Auto-pump:* Good note on the bulkiness in use. I was surprised though that you didn't state the one thing it has over the manual solder pump: you only need one hand rather than two (soldering wand & pump) which can help in some fiddly situations. *Desoldering station:* Of course I'd like one and that's a much lower price than the name brands but I've still got to weigh the cost vs fequency of use and not sure I can justify it. BTW with proper choice of wicking braid and good technique, I'm finding it works much more effectively than I used to think.
With patience, you can get a top-quality desoldering station used. It took three years, but I managed to snag a Pace desoldering station (10 years old, but still a current model at the time) for $120, including around $100 worth of new tips and filters. It required a $6 rubber gasket to restore its suction back to like-new condition. (Would have cost around $1100 new.)
if u use some flux like amtec 559 with solder braid, it will clean those through hole components clean! But obviously the proskit system would be a lot more ideal for big projects that require desoldering a lot of through hole components.
Desoldering station is on my bucket list but for now I have no issue using those cheapie pumps with wick (used with flux). The flux makes a HUGE difference when desoldering. In all my years of using those cheapo pumps, I have never struggled to remove solder, also just make sure to use flux with the wick to remove old solder.
sorry I am just starting out with soldering can you explain this to me like you would to a 5 year old, I’ve got the same pump but sometimes have to do it multiple times, or add more solder to get everything out.
I enjoy watching your projects and non-bias product reviews. Would be great if you could doan review update compellation of the reviews you've done to see if the products have lasted beyond warranty and to tell people if your opinions have changed on each product. No point making a part 2 for each video unless you have a a lot to say about a specific product. Maybe you could do the same for projects you've done.
Great review, thanks. You helped me decide what type buy. Just got one from Amazon for 40 bucks US which is a soldering iron and piston sucker all in one. If it does not work I will go for the Proskit.
As someone who works in a factory setting and uses a solder sucker daily, I dont want people to sleep on some of the cheaper solder suckers with plastic tips. I've personally used the Engineer solder sucker, and while I love it and would definitely use it for personal projects, the silicone tip just doesn't hold up for repeated or long term use. I found that after about a week of factory use the tip degraded to a point where it didnt make a good seal with the pad and the sucking quality decreased greatly. Meanwhile the cheap plastic tipped solder sucker my company provided made up for that in pure power over seal quality. While the plastic tip is definitely worse for making a good seal, the pure power of the springs in some cheaper solder suckers makes up for it and creates a much more consistent performance. All in all the Engineer solder sucker lasted me two weeks of daily use while a cheaper variant with no name has lasted me years without degradation
Plus one has to consider replacing those tips if need to, in the UK they are impossible to find easily and cheaply delivered, so that's a restriction from me, my cheap and cheerful manual plastic one just works everytime, once you get to know how to use it.
I got one cheaper solder sucker myself. Was 2,50 euros.. Did the job just fine.. So not all cheap things are bad. But i agree that plastic tips are getting worn, and then its expensive to replace. mostly 5 - 10 euros)
It would be a lot better if a video to show you attempt to remove some ACTUALLY difficult solder. Use an older, cheap, fragile board with gobs of lead free solder, and THAT is where these products earn their rightful place in your kit. Trying to get some super old lead free BS solder out of some pcb’s is an absolute nightmare. You should also have covered low temp solder like chip quik-it can be a lifesaver.
Coming from someone that routinely uses wick to clean up whatever the Engineer pump leaves behind, around a through hole component... Your wick technique leaves a lot to be desired. Instead of just laying over the top, push it in from the side and place your iron on the wick, but adjacent to the joint instead of directly on top of it. Obviously it is a slower technique, but when done correctly you can wick away every last remnant of solder without a pump.
100% agreed. He uses solder wick almost as wrongly as Julian Illet. When soldering, the solder always flows to the hottest place. So, moving the tip of the iron away (along the wick) after the joint is heated will pull the solder and literally "vacuums" it out of the hole.
2:40 That "Japanese" sucker I bought from AliExpress for 2 euro 90 ct. It was EXACTLY the same as this one and came with about 8 inches of new silicone tube (For me it is a bit too short, i like it a bit longer)...The bulky blue one I bought also from AE for just under 20 euros, mine gets hotter than this one, it goe up to 400 deg's Also it heats up a bit faster, in about 1,5 minutes (240V). So for me it is pointless to get an expensive desolder kit like the green one.
I have both the Engineer and the Pros Kit. However, I don't have the same success with my Engineer solder sucker, I usually use my Pros Kit which is very good.
you can easily upgrade that cheapo solder sucker by putting an old anode cap taken from crt tv to the tip of the manual solder pump, if your only desoldering single layer tht boards few components at a time it still works faster than a desoldering station as you do not need to wait for a couple of minutes to get it to working temp
the hardest part is desolder on the metal surface, today i use 480 degree but it took me half hour to desolder, since most of the heat is transfered to the metal surface.
good review. that 'engineers' has nice hardware. good for carry around. that auto(blue) is indeed clunky. takes a long time to heat.and easily gets 'full' in a few sucks
top tip is to pre-heat your pcb with a heat gun and good old solder sucker. Problem with the desolder stations is the tip gets oxidised and doesn’t wet/heat the solder and gets blocked up regularly
Try to melt calaphonia , once you get heated tip, then use it for desoldering. I had blue one from video, didnt clogged once. (Although diodes died on that one after one week....)
If the solder sucker is getting clogged, then you are using FAR too little heat. You have to have the solder hot enough to stay liquid all the way from the tip to the cannister
I had a cheap solder sucker that had a cheap iron built in it was only like 40w and it worked alright but not great I really want to get one of those desoldering stations
Thank you so much gor including the evil American weights and measures. It allowed for a better viewing experience. This actuslly made me want to buy tge first, second and fourth devices.
I have a clone of that gun, and it works like garbage. However I try, it won’t remove any solder within the PCB. I just desoldered a Gamecube digital port using the Engineer solder sucker, and that did the job. I have no idea why the solder gun doesn’t work. There is no blockage and it’s clean.
The shipping for the pro'skit is nearly as much as the unit itself!!! Pushes it out of my price range unfortunately. I'll have to have a poke around for another seller as it certainly looks the business.
If you mean liquid solder, then search for "Solder Pot". Note that the cheap ones from China have some safety issues so watch RU-vid videos to ensure that you understand how to make them safe to use. It is not a good idea to poke conductive wires into a pool of liquid conductive metal that might be at 220V mains voltage!
What I did was buy a large bottle of liquid rosin flux. I use it for everything and especially, if using the wick. I dip it into a cap of the flux and then the wick just sucks up the solder easily and without issue.
Just google ProKit and you'll get hits on that and the clones of that machine. I finally broke down and got one and I love it. It's the best solder removal device I've ever had. LOL (noticed how I avoided the awkward word!?) LOL 😁😅😂🤣
WTF, you say looking at different options at diff price points, at the end you talk about which you like and again mention price consideration BUT NEVER MENTION THE $$$$$
I really wish I didn’t have to write this but… Though I have now seen three channels advertising this product today, Shematix was where I first saw it. And I expect I’ll see a few more of these before I’ve finished watching todays new videos. A simple Google search will show many unhappy customers and the comments stating that it is a scam. In all cases it has been presented by RU-vidrs that I follow, mostly out of respect for their honesty and quality of content, but this has caused me to do a rethink and in one case to unsubscribe out of disgust, not something I want to do with all my favourite channels (though I might subscribe again, given how prevalent this is, apparently). It is extremely jarring and disappointing to see that these RU-vidrs have decided to take this company’s advertising money and to happily push its product onto their followers, without it appears, doing even five seconds of actual research on the product itself. It would be worse to find they still chose to advertise this even after doing this research. In my opinion, it impacts their credibility and considering how many appear to have agreed to advertise this, all on the same day, makes them like a bit like shills. I, for one, will be taking anything advertised on these channels in the future, with a very large grain of salt.
I really wish incompetent & jealous guys would keep their gripes against RU-vidrs to themselves. It only airs their pathetic upbringing and inability to learn simple techniques. Your attempt at YouTubing didn't succeed? You didn't get free samples? Go badmouth your superiors who did. Disregarding conveniently the fact that they succeeded because of their hard work & good attitude. If there is a scam going on, we will detect it even more easily than you pathetic barking SoB, so can your social-service and...
The powered solder sucker is my favourite and i never even considered the weight of it ???. The sharp vacuum pulse seems to work better than the continuous running pump type.
Hi! I'm guessing you wear gloves or use some kind of protection when handling the solder wick, right? I found that it gets quite hot to the touch and can be uncomfortable for bare hands (at least that was my experience).
I reviewed the pros kit a while ago, and have been using it ever since, it works very well. The only thing I did do was modify it to put a power switch on the front of the unit as the rear switch position was inconvenient and a bit stupid really, I did a video on that showing how to do it.
I also placed the power switch on the front panel. Another modification consists in replacing the fan. I removed the original one, enlarged the mounting hole and mounted the new 12V 80x80 fan from the outside. I reduced its power supply to 6V. Now the station is very quiet. As a final adjustment, the vacuum motor was switched via a FET transistor, which I control with a switch in the handle. This was because this switch is undersized for the working current of the motor. During use, it often happened to me that its contacts remained stuck and the motor still worked.
I'm a big fan of the Desoldering station myself. THCs just drop out of the PCBs. On a side-note, are you still using the AD208 for your standard microscope and are you still happy with it? I'm looking to replace my painful Mustool. :)
Seems like we made the same journey : I own all of these too. 😃 The blue one, although it works just fine, has the tendency to spit back the removed solder on trigger release, the cable comes out all the time, and I had to turn an aluminium ring to keep the rubber bellows in place. The green one has been clogging up a lot in my experience. When the solder hardens in the suction tube behind the heating element, it can be quite hard to remove.
@@allesklar7267 The Proskit station. It has its disadvantages, but it works. Make sure to get a steel 1mm pin about 12cm long to clean out the barrel from time to time.
This was a perfect video. It covers the main possibilities. I might try to add a small piece of silicone tubing to the tip of my spring loaded one. I don't why that hadn't occurred to me already. I've also used the iron that has a tip like the 3rd option and then has a spring cocked plunger at the end. There are two versions of those and you want the one that can be easily operated with one hand and the cord comes out the very top end. They work pretty good for small stuff.
Many thanks for this video, I found it when looking for something to replace the plastic cheap piece of crap solder sucker I have, which I can guarantee you is even worse than the one you said made you hate solder suckers. I ended up ordering the Engineer SS-02 because of this test, and I have high hopes for something that actually sucks PROPERLY. 😉
I have the same prokit station, it works good, but when working on 80s pcbs especially ic's I find them not easy to remove. It looks like they are soldered from both sides, Or maybe I use less heat ? - I found out its more smooth to head the ic from the other side too with a solder iron, and use prokit from the back side. But its unhandy. I dont know if the Hakko are better but the prokit is quite good. For older pcb's i always put fresh solder before try to desolder anything.
Wouldnt use the green proskit for tiny electronics like older 1997 motherboards.. Its good for basic electronics.. Only that device is not very accurate with temps. Those cheap units sometimes getting hotter then what you read on the display. And then lost a pad or through hole. An expensive device have a better heat regulation.
hi the blue desoldering pump with the black end blew the black end off my pump after a while at some force just missing my head so beware keep the end away from your face ! i used a black handheld type that seems a lot safer . i have a grey version of a desolder station but needs work before they are useable a hand pump or braid work pretty well .
I love my automatic solder sucker! At just under €20 delivered from China I have no longer a need for a desolder station. Desolder wick is a very handy additional tool. In your video you did not seem to allow the heat to get in that plated trough hole.
