How to De-Solder surface mount ICs

Ever wanted to de-solder tiny Integrated Circuits but never knew how or those "Hot Air" rework stations are too expensive?

Well I have the (near) perfect solution for you!

Okay well, I have just started to get into SMD soldering and always wanted to scavenge components from other circuit board that I have lying around. recent I pulled apart an old printer and found that most of the ICs on it had their data sheets publicly available and thought to myself maybe I could use that in my next project.
The problem is that i had no way of removing the component without destroying the chip using conventional de-soldering techniques with my good and trusty soldering iron.

So after a while I decided to try and remove the component using a butane gas torch, and would you know it, it was a complete success!

So now I'm going to share with you what i found.

Note: Videos will be uploaded soon...

Step 1 Pre-cautions

Before we start, I want to give you a word of warning about the dangers involved in this instructable.

When using the Butane Gas Torch, the tip will be very, very hot. do not let your fingers any where near it and do not point it at living things as it will burn just about anything.
Make sure no plastic will be near where you are working as it will burn quite quickly or it could melt from the uncontrolled heat.

Always make sure your work area is clean and tidy to prevent any accidents from happening.

Comments

[makincoolstuff]

but what r u gonna do with all these complex ic's, making a circuit with one is impractical

[mtristan]

SMD integrated circuits are not intended to be re-used after being solderded once (except BGA, with the reballing technique), so de-soldered ICs could be useless after removing them, even with a hot air station, wich is ment to be used to save the PCB, not the IC.
Despite that, I would consider your technique in an "emergency situation" (:

[qbn-b]

This makes removal easy, but you do have to try and be careful if you want any other components near there so remove those first and then "Flame On".

[rhoaste]

These types of butane torches are generally poorly regulated, if at all. So any realistic type of control (other than noticing the PCB burning) is not viable. If your PCB doesn't matter, and your components don't matter either, then I would suggest giving this a go. Practice on scrap PCBs first. However, if you want to give your components and board a better chance of survival, then spend the extra $80 on a cheap hot air rework station; prices have fallen considerably recently. Great article. Thanks.

[von rad]

Tough subject to tackle for the first Go.  I liked it.  Thanks

[masterochicken]

Very cool. What are you planning on using these for?

[NZSmartie]

Well, the one i de-soldered in the tutorial is a 512Mbit ram and i might use that as extra ram for when doing image processing on a chip, who knows.