clogged solder sucker ?

[floyd]

I replaced my old solder sucker with a nice new Weller from AES , thinking that it would not clog with solder as badly as the old one.. WRONG ! Are there any tricks to reduce this ? It's a real pain to have to keep removing the top to clear it out .

[Willabe]

I use WD-40, it seems to help.


            Brad     

[HotBluePlates]

I've just about given up on solder suckers.

I used solder wick, myself.

[sluckey]

I have that same sucker and I don't use it because it's too awkward to cock.

I have the sucker in the pic below. It is very easy to cock and clear the tip after every operation. That way solder does not build up inside the chamber. Occasionally, I'll suck up a larger than normal blob and when I recock and clear, the nozzle will pop off. When that happens I do the extra to clean the nozzle and chamber. Usually only takes a few seconds.

[eleventeen]

Agree w/Sluckey, I have one of those blue ones, it's at least 25 years old, beat to utter hell, and works like a champ. The tip needed replacing ten years ago, but I just keep cutting a slice off the old tip and keep on sucking. Yes, it clogs once in a while---depends  whether you use it on tube stuff with big fat solder joints or PC board stuff with tiny solder joints, of course. I myself have never liked solder wick, though many do.

[floyd]

What IS the blue one , ( brand ) ?

[Backwoods Joe]

There are several brands that look similar but the quality varies. The Pro'sKit tool 900-001N (ebay) seems to be one of the better.

[eleventeen]

I believe they are called "Soldapullit" or "Soldapullt" made by Edsyn. 

[jjasilli]

I have a blue one from radio shack.  When it clogs I unscrew the tip section & clean it out. Eventually the threads wore out on the inside of the blue barrel, tip. Tried elec tape wrap or plumbers tape worked for a while.  Then I reversed the blue barrel.   This moved the problem form the tip to the plunger body. The I drilled a small hole through the blue body & into the plunger; now held in place with a set screw.  Fine ever since.  See photo

[catnine]

I used the same metal case blue one from RS . I have had it for ten years and took it apart once and replaced the tip once. I never had a problem with it clogging . Most of the time when I suck up solder then push the plunger down again the sucked up solder comes out in a thin cast around the metal plunger tip so I just pull it out.

[sluckey]

I believe they are called "Soldapullit" or "Soldapullt" made by Edsyn. 

That's the one I have too. Had it since the '70s. I've actually replaced the tip once. That's what I grab for small jobs. But for bigger jobs such as unloading and cleaning up a 12" long turret board, I turn on my Pace...

[John]

Now that is just not fair. 

I use the wick too.

[DummyLoad]

Soldapullit brand. The blue one slucky posted. Best by far. Use a small jewlers screwdriver to give the tip an enema. The
The plunger also seperates from the body. Best 20.00 bux you'll spend on a desoldering tool. Solder wick works well too.

--pete

[jeff]

Happens to me alot too.
I got an idea. Why not make a solder sucker with an aluminum tip?

[eleventeen]

Because it would conduct static electricity from your body into sand-based stuff which can blow up MOS chips.

And it would act like a heat sink. The blue soldapullt ones have a teflon tip which gets a little glunked up over time, of course depending on your technique. You want to see the onset of molten solder before you approach the joint with the tip and keep it away until the solder flows. When you get good with the thing a cycle is pretty fast. Yes you have to recock it after every pull but this gets to be almost an automatic reaction. I usually recock it under a table surface or against my knee. The blue ones generate a considerable vacuum, and they do it super fast.

When you need to clean it, do everything you can to avoid enlarging the orifice at the tip, and store the thing in the uncocked state to keep the spring springy. I'll tell you, I have abused the heck out of mine and it just keeps going. I also, by the way, like the rubber-bulb ones with a (usually black, sometimes red) rubber bulb about the size of an egg. But I would DEFINITELY not choose one of those over one these blue dudes if I had a choice. Do not cheap out. One of these can unsolder a big fat sloppy solder connection like to a lug on an AC switch whoosh! in one shot. And by the way, that's usually all it takes and while it will of course leave the wire through the lug, it will be only microscopically tinned in a cold-solder joint and the wire can generally be broken away from the lug with a small wiggle and just pulled out of the loop with a small screwdriver or a probe. I believe this kind (and the fancy Pace type that Sluckey posted) dump the least amount of heat into the joint, (one of the reasons I don't like wick so much---this is from solid state training) which means wire insulation isn't goobered up, you don't have to yank on a wire you wish to move like a madman and weaken it. Good stuff.

[PRR]

> sucker with an aluminum tip?

Cooling solder will clog in aluminum. While it won't make a metallic bond, it will jam like poop in a sewer pipe.

Hi Temp plastic cools the solder less.

> You want to see the onset of molten solder before

+1. The solder MUST stay truly liquid all the way through the sucker's nozzle. This really means over-heating the solder, far above the slush point and even the drool point. When you WHUSH, the fast air and the cool nozzle will chill and slush/freeze the solder, it jams.

[Platefire]

I use to use the RS wick exclusively for a long tome but the quality got so poor the solder seemed to resist soaking up in the wick. That's when I switched to the blue RS sucker and have been using it every since. Like it's already been said, have to unscrew the nozzel, remove the spring and clean it out occationally. That RS solder wick has got pretty pricey too. Platefire

[Tone Junkie]

Looks like I need a new toy, Ive cleaned the solder out of my red bulb so many times it time to throw it away and get a new one.
 


I dont know why I like these things (LOL).

[sluckey]

I use to use the RS wick exclusively for a long tome but the quality got so poor the solder seemed to resist soaking up in the wick.

TIP...
Dip your wick in a bottle of liquid solder flux, or dab a little paste flux on it before use. You'll be surprised how much better a dipped wick works.

Also, RG-58 braid (or other fine wire braid) works very well for wicking if it's been dipped.

[alerich]

I prefer the smaller Paladin solder sucker to the Soldapult. I can clear and cock the Paladin with one hand. I only use it when a solder wick isn't appropriate. I don't do much turret board work. I am more of a point to point terminal strip type of guy guy. I have been using the same small tin of Burnley soldering paste for 30 years. Good stuff.

[Platefire]

Thanks sluckey for the tip, I'll try the flux on it. Sometimes a wick is a better application than a sucker depending on the situation. On a big blob, if the wick is soaking right, you can clear the whole blob out with one burn with your soldering iron riding on top of the wick holding it in place, dragging the wick accross the blob once it reaches the right tempature. When I use to do all those conversion projects and gutted all the old circuit, I got pretty good at that. Would be nice to have that option back again. Platefire  

[G._Hoffman]

I use both a solder sucker an solder wick - they each do different things better. 

But with any solder sucker I've owned, you need to take them apart from time to time, clean them out, and lubricate them.  The one I bought from Rat Shack suggested Vaseline, which works very well for me. 


Gabriel