Does anyone have experience removing thermal adhesive / glue? Particularly an MCPCB that is glued into the pill… thanks!!
Is it like thread lock compounds?… where you heat it up and quench it so it becomes brittle?
I usually run the light hot then twist em out with long nose pliars.
Heat and force. But I’m not sure about removing MCPCB safely.
Yep, exactly this. My experience is that thermal adhesives aren’t nearly as strong as something like loctite. The light on high will usually make enough heat to soften it enough to get it loose. Heat it up good then grab it and twist, or lever it up around the edge if there’s no room to get your needlenose in there.
I’ve had some particularly difficult to remove boards that didn’t want to twist off. In those cases, I turn the pill upside down, find a lip of the PCB that is exposed through the pill wire opening, and use a punch to tap the PCB free. This warps the PCB though, so it’s not recommended if you want to reuse the board.
I just pry the PCB off using a tiny flat screwdriver, then sand the remaining adhesive away.