This brings a tear of joy to my eye... desoldering was never that much fun!
I always struggled with soldering wick and couldn't be fast enough with a desoldering pump, but with this tool - so easy. It's very easy to operate single handedly, and it works perfectly well for both through-hole (pump is strong enough to clean the hole) and wires soldered to a PCB star. I haven't tried it on surface mount components, but it should work well for the ones with bigger connectors (such as the AMC7135 current regulators) but probably not so well for smaller ones (e.g. resistors). It's very easy to clean, also.
On the negative side - after about 20 desoldering actions, the pump started spitting out solder from previous iterations when I compressed it. It still sucked the solder just fine. When it cooled down I opened it up and there was some blob of solder and something sticky at the opening of the pump. Was easy to remove, and I could probably do it while the iron was still hot. Maybe it's because it's new. Also because it's new, it emitted some nasty smoke at the beginning from the iron tip and from the connection between the iron and the pump, I thought it was going to burn, but after a few minutes it stopped. Also, I think the plastics won't withstand heat and normal use for a long time, but we'll see. The separate ground cord is obnoxious, I think I'll connect the three wires together to the wall plug.
But all in all - very recommended, especially for the beginner solderer - so easy to fix mistakes! :) I wish I had it a long time ago.
Cost 14.68$ (15.51$ if you need the package, I got the package even though I didn't add the required 0.83$, was probably easier for them to package). I think you could get it for a few bucks less through TaoBao or eBay. A poor man's replacement for a constant vacuum desoldering station that goes for many tens (or even hundreds) of dollars.
If you have one where the plunger is not within a shroud, a neat trick is to put a coin on the top of the plunger and trigger it to flip the coin. 99% of the time the coin will land on the ground the same way it was on the plunger.
I like my desolder pump from Farnell ; it has good suction and spare tips, but it has a shroud, so it hurts after a while when doing lots of desoldering.
I still want a Hakko Sppon without the shroud. I tried a UK distributor and they explained H&S legislation prevented sale of them here. >.< Maybe FastTech can get them?
I happen to have one of those $1000 de-soldering stations from an old (now-defunct) enterprise, and they also get clogged up. The one I have has these cotton pads that go inside the glass tube, but after you’ve done some de-soldering, a layer of solder gets deposited on one face of the cotton pad, and you either have to replace the pad or clean the solder off (and clear the tip also, because that gets clogged).
I wish that I could learn to use the solderpults… never got the hang of those…
These electric pumps are nice to get into places where a soldering iron tip and a normal desoldering pump would not fit together.
Personally, I like the stanley soldapult models more for normal use. Even in daily professional use they last years if maintained correctly. (But be aware, their suction force may be to much for some old PCBs if used incautious )
