SMD/SMT extractor

[Buzz_Lightyear]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UnuDKirLHU

Those are from JBC and cost around $60 per extractor at the cheapest I could find them! :eek:

Anybody know where I can get a few of those (preferably on the cheap)? They need not even be those exact extractors, but something functionally similar (spring-loaded extraction and heat shield).

[pldaniels]

That's pretty neat - when you say $60, do you mean per individual extractor spring unit... or per collection?

paul.

[andrew b]

Great video Buzz. A few bits of piano wire, a rubber sucker, a spring and some aluminium sheet. Easy to make. The "shop" one looks nice in it's pretty box but pretty boxes are just that. Break out the snips and files. Very safe bet that on this forum someone will have made something similar.

[pldaniels]

Is the exterior heat shield aluminium or something else (like some sort of high-temp plastic)

I'd imagine you'd want to keep the bottom edging rolled or very soft to prevent damaging the PCB.

Paul.

[jeffs555]

That looks very interesting. I have been using shields cut from aluminum flashing and a heat gun to unsolder 160+ pin QFPs. I normally just use an old xacto knife to flick the chip off the board, but may have to try building one of those. A little brass tubing, a spring from a ball point pen and a high temp suction cup should be all that is needed. Only hard thing might be finding a high temp suction cup. They do have a tripod version with legs that rest outside the shield and that is probably what I would build. Or maybe build a stand that clamps the PCB and an arm to hold the extractor.

http://www.howardelectronics.com/jbc/shields.html

[AndyOne]

I use a piece of litho plate with a hole cut slightly larger than the component to be removed and dish it down slightly to keep the hot air off the surrounding board this is placed over the IC then I use a heat-shrink gun and pick it off with a pair of SM tweezers. A very low cost solution.

Andy.

[tomahawkflier]

You mean your not supposed to use whatever big flat bladded screwdriver you have sitting around????

[village_idiot]

The Pace station I had at my last job had heated tips that went on the sucker tool, also in these tips was a vacuum cup. Pretty nice system but really expensive. Those JBS heat shields look like they make some of this work pretty simple. JBC seems to make some really nice tools.

Not sure if this would help:
http://www.howardelectronics.com/xytronic/490ICPopper.html

[Buzz_Lightyear]

When I say $60, I mean per individual extractor. That's way too ex$pen$ive!!

I'm pretty sure the heat shield is aluminum, and that makes it fairly trivial to make. It's the extractor that I've been mulling over.

I was thinking of making one myself along the lines of jeffs555 mentioned. I saw the tripod extractor, but again, $60 / extractor. The only thing I couldn't seem to find was info on high-temp suction cups. Anybody know of a place to find semi-cheap high-temp suction cups?

[pldaniels]

I don't think you need anything fancy for the suction cup... just a vacuum source (aquarium airpump) and a bit of tubing with perhaps some silicone at the end to help 'seal' the pickup.

Paul.

[Buzz_Lightyear]

Not sure if this would help:
http://www.howardelectronics.com/xytronic/490ICPopper.html
Seems like this would pry the IC diagonally up, probably bending a few legs in the process. Anybody ever use them/can confirm?

I don't think you need anything fancy for the suction cup... just a vacuum source (aquarium airpump) and a bit of tubing with perhaps some silicone at the end to help 'seal' the pickup.

Paul.
I was thinking the aquarium air pump as well. What I don't know is if a silicone suction cup would still work under the heat used to create the reflow.

[pldaniels]

If you use RTV silicone, that'll get you up to ~200'C. Beyond that I'm sure there's a few high-temperature plastics you could obtain and shape. What about those silicone oven / cake moulds you can get? Add a small disc of that stuff to the bottom of a brass/metal tube and you've got yourself a nice vacuum sealing.

[village_idiot]

Watch the video on the IC poppers. You DO NOT use them with additional pressure, gravity does all the work, and they only weigh a few grams. You might have to find the video for the hot air tool (not the little pencil) as I think the popper is demonstrated with that tool. Never used them, but looks like it should work well.

[jeffs555]

Paul,
You can get high temperature RTV at most auto parts stores here in the US and would imagine you could also find it there. This one is rated for 650F (~340C). I was planning to stop by the local car parts store and get some.

Jeff
http://www.partsamerica.com/productdetail.aspx?MfrCode=PTX&MfrPartNumber=81160&CategoryCode=2132

http://www.permatex.com/documents/GasketMakerSelector.pdf

[pldaniels]

Jeff,

Brilliant - all solved then :D

I used gasket/high-temp stuff for installing the temperature sensor on my reflow oven, though it barely ever gets over 220'C for anything more than a few seconds and it's recessed into the framework (the RTV, not the sensor) so it doesn't get a full blast of exposure like the sucker would.

Seems like you've found a solution for this trick :)

Paul.

[Buzz_Lightyear]

Not available.

I'll have to keep an eye out and see if I can find something, but it sure does seem like this would work out well.