When I first got into electronics I worked as a trainee technician at Leicester University. The first way of desoldering that I was taught was using a solder sucker. A solder sucker or desoldering pump as they are also known will last you for years if you look after if so is it a false investment to just buy the cheapest one available? In this article I’ll look at what’s available and at what cost to help you get the best desoldering tool or tools for your needs. I’ll also look at a few different techniques and alternatives.
Types of desoldering tool
There are various different kinds of tools that are available for desoldering. I’ve sectioned them into three types. Solder suckers, desoldering stations and desolder braid.
Solder suckers
This is what we are looking at in this guide.
What is a solder sucker?
A solder sucker is usually a cylindrical tube containing a spring that is hand cocked and triggered by a push button. This sucks molten solder up through a Teflon tip and into the body on the solder sucker there by removing it from a soldered joint it has to be used in conjunction with a soldering iron
Desoldering stations
A desoldering station is rather none surprisingly just made to desolder soldered joints, primarily those on printed circuit boards. It has a body that gets hot like a soldering iron and a tip like a soldering iron however the tip on a desoldering station has a hole in the end of it .This is where it sucks molten solder up. They also have electric pumps in them to generate their suction power.
One of the advantages of desoldering stations is, as they are easier to use than other methods you’re less likely to damage the printed circuit board or the components due to overheating
These are the top of the range tools when it comes to desoldering they are also the most expensive. I have a guide about desoldering stations here. If you can afford it you’ll get the best performance from a desoldering station. Unlike a solder sucker you can use it on its own and it doesn’t require the use of a soldering iron.
Desolder braid
This is the cheapest option available when it come to desoldering a joint, it is basically a copper braid that soaks up molten solder, it can be used on its own but you’ll get through a lot of it. Its best used after initially using a solder sucker to clean up the small amounts that a solder sucker can’t get to. I have a guide on desolder braid here.
How to choose a solder sucker?
I have used an old Weller solder sucker for years and to be honest it’s worked well but seen better days. The Teflon tip could do with being replaced but then the black rubber ring around the end that screws to the body has cracked and a bit is missing so that won’t help with the suction either. I think it’s better if my Weller goes to the place where all good solder suckers go to in the sky and I get a new one. So what’s available, how good is it and how much will it cost?
How to use a solder sucker
You press in the plunger, which then locks. Hold the solder sucker in your left hand and your thumb over the release button. With the soldering iron in your right hand apply the tip to the joint to be desoldered. As the solder begins to melt introduce the Teflon tip of the solder sucker into the molten solder and press the button with your thumb.
Be careful not to get your face too close to the rear of the tool. Although it’s partially guarded it can still hurt. Don’t force the tip into the solder as you press the release button as rough use can damage the solder pads on the board. If all’s gone well you should have removed the solder from the joint. If not you can try again to take off what’s remaining. Sometime though it’s easier to apply more solder and then try again.
Listed below are the three best solder suckers that I’ve found. I still use them all for various jobs.
These are all available from Amazon and I’ve included links. I prefer Amazon because as a Prime member I get free next day delivery. I have tried other online suppliers and had a bad experience where goods where lost and I was told they had been delivered so I stick to Amazon now.
The Silverline metal solder sucker
The silverline metal solder sucker is more like my old Weller solder sucker bit it doesn’t remove solder as well as my Weller did in its heyday. If you put your finger over the end of the Teflon tip and release the button you can feel the suction pressure but upon closer inspection, the actual hole is much larger than my old Weller. I’m guessing that this is why it doesn’t work as well. A larger hole means the pressure of the suck is less. A bit like a bucket, if you have a small hole and a larger hole the water squirts further from the smaller hole.
Also I think that more suction is achieved if the Teflon hole is completely over the molten solder as if there’s a gap where the hole isn’t in contact with the molten solder, air will also get sucked in as well as the solder, reducing its effectiveness.
You can get replacement Teflon tips for the Silverline but they appear to be all the same hole diameter it would have been useful to have been able to get ones with a smaller hole. I think the hole size is a compromise between how well it sucks solder and how often it gets clogged. I would sooner have a solder sucker that performs better but need clearing more often.
In conclusion this solder sucker performs well on larger joints where more solder is present in the first place and the large hole removes large amounts without getting stuck. It’s not so good removing solder from small joints on printed circuit boards especially double sided plated through holes. It is however amazingly cheap if you are on a tight budget and is very useful if you want a remove a quantity of solder and then use desoldering braid to get the rest off.
The Duratool desoldering tool
This is sold on Amazon Prime simply as “desoldering tool” I have seen the same item sold from various other component suppliers. I think it’s manufactured and sold from several different outlets but you can recognise it as the same tool.
The Duratool desoldering tool is in some ways like a cross between a desoldering station and a traditional solder sucker.
It’s like a desoldering station if you look at the tip. It’s got a hole in it like a desoldering station tip and heats up so you don’t need a separate soldering iron but whereas a desolder station has a suction pump the Duratool tool has a plunger that works just like a solder sucker.
The body of the tool can be removed easily once you’ve mastered the technique of pulling the plunger back and lifting it. This should only be done when the devices is off and cooled down.
The tip on this device is secured with a small posidrive screw and unfortunately there seems to only be one size available which is a shame because sometimes the largish tip touches the pads nest to the one you’re trying to desolder
I’ve found this is a very useful tool if you have lots of large solder joints. I had a printed circuit board with a lot of PCB mounted variable resistors. These have quite thick legs so the holes and pads are quite large so the solder joints are also large with plenty of solder to remove. This Duratool sucked up a lot of the solder which would clog smaller desoldering tools frequently due to the sheer volume of molten solder.
This, in my opinion is what the Duratool type desoldering iron is best at, larger pads and joints where you need to remove lots of solder. You can use this to start removing solder and it’s then a simple job of using the Engineer SS2 to finish them up.
The Engineer SS2
The first impressions you get with the Engineer SS2 solder sucker is that its very well made almost totally of metal and when you press the plunger in and press the button to release it you get a very positive feel and action, it’s hard to describe in words but there’s a reassuring quality to it and not flimsy like some tools are.
You also notice that if you press the plunger in and press the button to release it while your finger is over the silicon tube to block the hole, the plunger won’t fully spring back as the pressure is being held in by your finger, take it off the hole and it fully releases. That shows there’s no leakage of the suction pressure. It also shows how good the silicon tube is at making an air tight seal with your finger tip.
I suspect that this is one of the reasons the Engineer SS2 is so good. As the silicon is flexible it forms a much better seal with the molten solder and hence sucks more up then a hard Teflon tip.
Engineer SS2 performance
This is by far the best solder sucker that I have used in forty years. If you’ve used a traditional solder sucker in the past I think you’ll be amazed at the performance of the Engineer SS2. It simple sucks up more solder than any of the others by quite a margin.
Not only does the silicon tubes help make the Engineer SS2 so good at desoldering they also replace the rather inefficient Teflon tips. Replacing the silicon is a breeze as you just cut a small bit and pull off the old tube and push on the new. It’s really that simple, the silicon lasts for ages anyway and it’s a lot cheaper than replacing a Teflon tip.
The Engineer SS2 will require that you periodically unscrew the body and give the cylinder and spring a clean. You have to do this with all solder suckers but it doesn’t seem to clog up as often as the traditional solder suckers. This is probably due to a little solder plug getting lodged in the silicon tube and then being ejected when you press the plunger meaning less goes into the cylinder.
Amazon also sell a model known as the Kotto Vacuum Desoldering Pump Solder Sucker, Solder Braid Solder Removal Hand Tool for Soldering Welding solder sucker which looks and works exactly the same as the Engineer SS2 the only real difference I can see between the two models is that the kotto has a slightly longer end. This is the bit that the silicon tubing pushed onto. The extra length of it is also serrated so it makes unscrewing it from the body a little easier than the Engineer SS2 as you have more to hold on to and your fingers can grip it better than the smooth metal on the Engineer SS2.
Problems with the Engineer SS2
The Engineer SS2 is easy to clog if you are desoldering large solder joints like terminals and jack sockets. If you’ve got another less effective solder sucker like the Silverline or Duratool it’s better to have a go with one of those first to get some of the solder out of the way before you get rid of the rest with the Engineer SS2.
The Engineer SS2 also has no guard on the end like most solder suckers have. This makes absolutely no difference to me as I don’t put my face anywhere near it when I’m desoldering. I’m actually wondering what unnatural position you would have to be in anyway for it to be a problem.
Engineer SS2 Solder sucker helpful tip
You get spare silicon tubing with you Engineer SS2 and Amazon sell replacements for it however you can buy silicon tubing in 1 meter lengths from eBay a lot cheaper, look for 3mm internal diameter.
I’ve got some and it works just the same as the tubing you get with the solder sucker. Incidentally 2mm internal diameter will also push fit onto the end. You can also easily get 1.5mm internal diameter which I’m going to see if this will push fit onto the Engineer solder sucker SS2 as in theory it should make the suction more powerful as the same pressure will now be over a smaller area.
Techniques of desoldering
The best ways of desoldering depends on what you are desoldering and what you want to achieve from the desoldering job. By what you want to achieve I mean do you want to save the component, the board or both? Sometimes if the component is faulty it easier to cut the legs off it from the component side and remove the faulty component and then desolder each leg separately. When you do this be careful not to suck the remains of the legs into the solder sucker or desolder station as this will clog it up.
You’ll find that double sided printed circuit boards are more difficult to desolder.
A plated through hole is a hole that has a tube of copper around the inside of it that joins to the top and bottom copper. Because of this copper tube around the hole it makes it a lot harder to get all of the solder out of it and the component can remain soldered if a small section of its leg is in contact with a tiny bit of solder and the hole
Single sided boards are easier to desolder because there is no copper tube in the hole so once you’ve desoldered the solder from the component pad there’s nothing else to keep it in place.
They are also easier to damage because the single sided pads are easier to detach from the material the printed circuit board is made out of.
If you are desoldering to remove a faulty component and you can cut its legs off, you can heat up the leg and pull it out. This way you only have to suck the solder out of a hole to clear it for the new component.
Sometimes you get a stubborn hole that won’t seem to clear. If that’s the case its worth applying some more solder and then trying to desolder it again. If this doesn’t work you can try some desolder braid. I find this useful when there’s just a small amount of solder to remove, use plenty of flux and try it from the component side and the track side.
Choosing the best solder sucker
Final point of view
I actually own and use all three of the solder suckers that I’ve recommended here. They each have there strengths and uses. The Duratool type tool is great if you have loads of medium to large joints to desolder, the Silverline is so cheap as to not even worry about the buying decision, less that the price of a pint or a bus ticket and is great to quickly remove most of the solder from a joint however the best performance is easily from the Engineer SS2 for medium to small soldered joints.
If you solder regularly you are going to need to desolder at some point, nobody’s perfect and even if you never solder anything in wrong you’re still going to have to desolder components that become faulty. There are various techniques and tools to desolder. Even if you have a desoldering station, which to be honest is the best tool you can have for desoldering, you’ll probably still use a solder sucker at times when you just need something quick and don’t want to wait for a de soldering station to warm up.
I can honestly say that the Engineer SS2 is the best solder sucker that I’ve used in my forty odd years of soldering and desoldering and I wouldn’t swap it for any other solder sucker that I’ve ever used!
If you want more information about desoldering I have a couple of other articles that may interest you. The first is learn How to desolder – a beginners guide, this will help you if you are starting out and How to desolder components, which is specifically about desoldering components from printed circuit boards.