Got a dell d531 laptop that has a broken dc jack, it's busted up inside from someone forcing the wrong power supply into it so it needs completely replacing. I've got the new jack and everything but I'm having probs desoldering the old jack off the board. I've got a desoldering iron and pump in one which doesn't seem to be shifting it at all, looks like it's for bigger jobs that this. I've tried with the soldering iron and desoldering braid but that's only shifting a little of the solder off each joint. The jack is actually really well soldered onto the board which is my problem here, I've added fresh solder to try and get it flowing but it's still not shifting. I've done a couple of dc jack replacements before and they were way easier than this one due to the joints being bigger. Anyone have any advice on how to get this thing off, perhaps better tools for the job? ddp might have good advice on this?
If not, does anyone know of a decent place in the london area where I could bring the board to get it desoldered?
Are you saying that I can use my soldering iron to heat the solder and the pump from the desoldering unit to suck off the solder? If so, I've tried that already quite a few times. I'm thinking maybe the pump in this thing is rubbish. It's this unit:
Just use a standard 40-45W soldering iron...there isn't enough solder there for you to need a desoldering iron (and the unit you have would have to work to be rubbish anyway). Quickly heat the contacts from the back of the board, and use a small pliers to gently pull the old connector off the board (this is a lot easier if you use a soldering iron with a wide chisel tip). If there is too much solder left over when you are done, this is where you would use the desoldering iron...but you still don't need one. Just strip a few thin copper wires, heat the solder, and slide them through the holes...they will take the excess solder with them.
do something like killer says but cut the connector apart so that the legs are left showing above & below the circuit board. heat each leg seperately so each can be pulled out carefully with pliers without pulling out the circuit board barrel that sits in the hole that the leg fits into.
