How To Salvage SMD Components and Connectors For Fun And To Improve Your Desoldering Skills

A great way to build up a useful collection of Electronic Components for free is to salvage them from scrap electronics. This is also a very good way to improve your desoldering skills and learn the limitations of your equipment

Mentioned in this video
Using A Preheater

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TEST METERS
ANENG AN8009 MULITIMETER
KAIWEETS HT118E MULTIMETER
VC480C+ MILLIOHM METER
MESR-100 ESR METER
XC6013L CAPACITOR METER

TM-902C TEMPERATURE METER
LCR-T4 COMPONENT ANALYZER
FNB58 USB ANALYZER
PCI POST ANALYZER
TL460S PLUS PCI_E ANALYZER
TOOLTOP ET120MC2 SCOPE
FNIRSI 1014D SCOPE
NPS3010W 30V 10A PSU
T12 STATION WITH M8 9501 HANDLE
M8 9501 HANDLE
YIHUA 982 Soldering Station C210/C245
FNIRSI HS-02 PORTABLE SOLDERING C210/C245
QUICK 861DW
PROS'KIT SS-331H

INFIRAY P2 PRO IR CAMERA + MACRO LENS
TOOLTOP ET13S THERMAL CAMERA METER
ET13S MACRO LENS
OPTICAL MICROSCOPE
TOMLOV TM4K AF FLEX
TL866 II+ PROGRAMMER
CH341 PROGRAMMER
NC-559-ASM FLUX

DESOLDER BRAID (I use size 8045)
HX-T100 SOLDER (0.6MM)
ESD-11 TWEEZERS

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Thank you
Richard

[stevejagger]

I live in Uganda and salvaging components is the best option when the supply of new components is limited.
As a general principle reuse and recycling is good practice.

[SolderBrothers]

I've taken to using a cheap heat gun for salvage work to save my hot air station. Have one with adjustable temp, usually heats a big area of the board. I pick everything off.

[NEW_INSITE]

I have salvaged the Ethernet Connectors before and then open the metal casing. Inside in the rear area of the connector are around 15 to 20 microsized ferrels used to clean the signal on the inputs and outputs. They look like little 3 to 5 mm sized donut shaped ceramic/ferrites. I have used them to build tiny Joule Theif circuits.

[anndaly]

Use of the thermal camera might have been interesting to see heat transfer in real time across the board? Another nice video, cheers 👍

[Rasspor]

I use to do this in my younger years before internet. When i was doing TV/VCR and stereo equipment repairs. Thank you for the video! Ahh!!! the smell of melting solder and hot circuit boards. LOL

[orionRS]

To desolder for hours, I just use cheap unregulated soldering iron (3$), with (believed or not) nail cut with angle grinder as a tip... and heater costs 1$ and lasts for one year. On first heatup procedure i put in COLOPHONIUM and soldering tin, then I can work literally for at least 50hrs working time, then I just grind 5mm to make it brand new, then I continue... I remove smd capacitors coils resistors, 3 point transistors with metal tweezers... Time fly by when you recycle components...

[Foobar_The_Fat_Penguin]

If you have two soldering irons you can just dual-wield them to get those surface mount caps from both sides at once. Hot tweezers, if available, would also be an option, I suppose.

[Dutch_off_grid_homesteading]

Heya, nice salvage of some usefull components with some usefull skills

[fremandg]

This is just a suggestion, but i collect cameras and have little parts bags, but i have Phomemo thermal printer size of a portable hard drive, absolutely brilliantly easy to operate and different size and types of label, you link to phone and type the word or words and number of labels, it just prints out and you save in the word, so mosfet and type number, capacitor size, whatever it is and stick on, bag, tin, draw, your draws, anything, its a doddle and you could look over the boards and do a batch, but i reckon it would save you hours in the long run, or take on an apprentice to teach and interact.

[weerobot]

Do they Melt it all down at The Refuse???

[markbaker]

Richard I have a question for you; Is it possible to know/work out the voltage of the ceramic capacitors on for example a laptop motherboard, if you decide to try and salavge them (if not would you then have to look for schematics to see if the voltage values are listed there)?

[pault]

For SMDs use two soldering irons usually. I hate lead-free solder and conformal coating!

I’ve had those polymer caps blow up before the leads came free. Not worth it. Sometimes a cutting blade works better.
Flux helps but makes your take-off components sticky.

[petopeter]

but would you use components from the scrap to replace defected one for your customer?how you guarantee functionality in future?

[allanmcgonigle]

What heat do you use to remove the components? Iron?

[inse]

Richard, without preheating the PCB from below it’s crap.
I would not trust in the BGA that has been roasted for minutes at 450 degrees nor the capacitors with the bent legs.