Excellent Amy!
With the proper technique with a good desoldering iron one components can be removed unscathed (and be reused if not faulty).
Seemingly being counter intuitive, one needs to add additional solder to the joints to be desoldered;
Intuitively, hold the PCB so the solder holes are horizontal so the suction of the desolderer doesn't have to to fight gravity.
Don't be overly keen to pressing and releasing the trigger.
It's important not to release the trigger prematurely to prevent solder from getting stuck in the desoldering tool's barrel.
0. Install the correctly sized tip.
1. If you can apply a bit of flux paste to the joint.
2. Ensure there is enough solder on the solder joint. Add more if required using the desoldering iron for the soldering.
3. Heat the joint, when the solder has melted start wiggling (in sympathy of the component leads bends) the solder tip gently so the component lead moves in unison with the tip.
4. Keep wiggling, press the trigger and keep wiggling. This is where the solder is removed from the joint.
5. When satisfied that the solder is removed, keep pressing the trigger, stop wiggling and remove the tip from the joint.
6. Wait a sec and then release the trigger.
Sometimes the after the desoldering the component lead reattaches to the PCB pad. This is called a sweat joint.
If this occurs, the use a pair of needles pliers and gently wiggle the component lead to break the joint.
It's with experience that you'll work out when you can do this or have to resolder the joint and desolder gain.
7. Double check that all of the leads have been released.
8. The component can be pulled out without any force.
9. When finished, before turning the iron off, tin the tip and don't wipe the solder off.
This bit of solder greatly extends tip life.
QED.
Notes: With that cheapie desoldering iron and its brethren.
a. Its case fan is often noisy - who really cares when it desolders well.
b. Its heating elements doesn't win any awards for heating up or thermal stability - who cares when when the iron's cheap.
c. It'll take a bit of experimentation to tune in the default optimal temperature setting.
There will be times that slight adjustments are needed to compensate for solder pads on large copper fills.
With the proper technique with a good desoldering iron one components can be removed unscathed (and be reused if not faulty).
Seemingly being counter intuitive, one needs to add additional solder to the joints to be desoldered;
Intuitively, hold the PCB so the solder holes are horizontal so the suction of the desolderer doesn't have to to fight gravity.
Don't be overly keen to pressing and releasing the trigger.
It's important not to release the trigger prematurely to prevent solder from getting stuck in the desoldering tool's barrel.
0. Install the correctly sized tip.
1. If you can apply a bit of flux paste to the joint.
2. Ensure there is enough solder on the solder joint. Add more if required using the desoldering iron for the soldering.
3. Heat the joint, when the solder has melted start wiggling (in sympathy of the component leads bends) the solder tip gently so the component lead moves in unison with the tip.
4. Keep wiggling, press the trigger and keep wiggling. This is where the solder is removed from the joint.
5. When satisfied that the solder is removed, keep pressing the trigger, stop wiggling and remove the tip from the joint.
6. Wait a sec and then release the trigger.
Sometimes the after the desoldering the component lead reattaches to the PCB pad. This is called a sweat joint.
If this occurs, the use a pair of needles pliers and gently wiggle the component lead to break the joint.
It's with experience that you'll work out when you can do this or have to resolder the joint and desolder gain.
7. Double check that all of the leads have been released.
8. The component can be pulled out without any force.
9. When finished, before turning the iron off, tin the tip and don't wipe the solder off.
This bit of solder greatly extends tip life.
QED.
Notes: With that cheapie desoldering iron and its brethren.
a. Its case fan is often noisy - who really cares when it desolders well.
b. Its heating elements doesn't win any awards for heating up or thermal stability - who cares when when the iron's cheap.
c. It'll take a bit of experimentation to tune in the default optimal temperature setting.
There will be times that slight adjustments are needed to compensate for solder pads on large copper fills.