Introduction: Removing Surface Mount Chip Components

About: I am work in a high voltage laboratory, the largest laboratory owned by a university. I am in love with electricity. I have been fortunate enough to work with a variety of green technology including fuel cells…

I will show you how to remove surface mount chip components. This method works for all types of chip resistors,capacitors and MELF(Metal Electrode Face) components.

What is Needed
2 soldering irons
solder
desolder braid


My camera would not take a close up of a resistor see the 2nd photo for demo . Follow these steps

Let the irons heat up.

Take the irons , one in the left hand and one in the right

Place one iron on the left side of the component and the other on the right, making contact with the pad and the component

The solder should melt and the component can be removed simply by moving the soldering irons with the component between the tips, like tweezers. No force should be used , you may need to add a little solder to the tips to help transfer heat.

Now the component is removed use the solder braid and clean the solder from the pads.

 This process takes seconds. You can use the solder braid but most of the time the braid will not remove all of the solder and the pads can be damaged when removing the component. At work I have thermal tweezers, but at home i use this method. Comes in handy removing the LEDs from xbox controllers.

 I this write up was informative, any questions just ask.

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