Soldering Station/Iron recommendation....

[Dave Frederickson]

(07-21-2015 08:41 AM)BartDB Wrote:  

(07-21-2015 03:50 AM)Dave Frederickson Wrote:  Vacuum de-soldering tools, like a squeeze bulb or Soldapullt are preferable to solder braid, especially with through-hole components.

My vote is vice-versa, preferring de-soldering braid to a solder-sucker, especially on older printed boards I have found the pads being sucked off (particularly with single layer boards where the pad is not held in place by through-hole plating). Pre-wetting the braid with a liquid flux helps absorbtion of the solder.
-Bart

Solder braid can't wick solder our of a plated-through hole with a pin in it as fast as a vacuum desoldering tool. If it could they wouldn't make the vacuum tools. The time it takes to try to remove solder from a hole using braid heats up the board too much. The problem you're experiencing pulling up traces it due to technique.

Dave