One of the most common desoldering methods is to use a
desoldering wick/braid (a flux-coated, loosely braided
copper rope) in
conjunction with a soldering iron: [link]
One annoying aspect of that method is that the wick,
which is designed to suck up solder from the joint being
desoldered,
sucks solder off the soldering iron's tip. That molten
solder on the tip is good to have there, because it
protects the tip from
oxidization and it ensures good thermal contact with the
work. Also, that solder being sucked up by the wick uses
up some of
the wick's capacity. For me, all this usually results in
attempting to desolder using a saturated wick and a dry
tip, which in turn
results in me using the solder sucker instead of the wick.
The solution I've thought of is to make a wick that's
covered on one side by aluminium foil. It would look like
a regular wick on
one side (against the joint to be desoldered), and a foil-
shielded cable with its outer jacket removed on the
other side (against
the soldering iron). The foil could be held on by sewing
its edges to the copper braid with more fine copper wire.
Aluminium is nearly as thermally conductive as copper,
so heat transfer through the whole wick should be almost
as good. As
well, aluminium isn't wettable by common electronics
solders, so the solder on the iron tip should stay there,
improving the
thermal contact, and keeping the whole braided copper
section of the wick available to suck solder from the
work. I expect all
of this would result in much easier desoldering.
N/A [2019-01-04]