GENERAL Ahhh hot glue!!! Need some advice.

[Martin C]

Ok, heating up the glue is NOT necessary. Hot glue can be easily removed using rubbing alcohol. Take a q-tip, dip in Isopropyl, then apply around the hot glue. The glue will begin loosening, apply more alcohol, trying to get it underneath the glue, at this point it should come off effortlessly. There's no need to heat the glue.

So how do you release the wire if the glue has worked itself around the entire circumference?

Sorry, really bad advice. Primary goal is to desolder the wire cleanly. You can worry about polishing the board up afterwards.

 

[theagent]

So how do you release the wire if the glue has worked itself around the entire circumference?

Sorry, really bad advice. Primary goal is to desolder the wire cleanly. You can worry about polishing the board up afterwards.

How would you desolder the wire without removing the hot glue from atop the pads?? The OP was asking how to remove hot glue from the board...easy... alcohol. It takes finesse of course in not yanking the wire from the pad... but the glue loosens very easily, and will come off gently with the isopropyl. It will also loosen around the wire. I've done this many times. It would be a bad idea to treat it as epoxy, or heat it up unnecessarily... this will just create a mess.

---------- Post added at 13:22 ---------- Previous post was at 13:17 ----------

I'll see about creating a video to demonstrate just how easy it is.

edit: I see you said you'd desolder through the glue using a spare iron. Just not the way I'd go about it.

 

[mm53668]

Why go through the trouble the iron can melt the glue while getting through to the solder at the same time

 

[theagent]

because there's just absolutely no need to create the mess and damage an iron tip. The glue comes off just too easily with isopropyl.

I've created the video...but it's incredibly blurry... I only have my phone to create the vids... I'll perhaps post it, and get a clearer one up with a borrowed cam. It's all done one handed... and was absolutely effortless removing a large blob of hot glue enveloping a wire soldered to where the standby clock wire would be soldered to.

The vid is uploading now.

 

[theagent]

And here's the vid... apologize about the blurriness and fumbling. It would have been a lot easier and faster with two hands. The glue was entirely enveloping the wire and pad, although difficult to see in the video.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7GnJsp4eZo[/ame]

 

[Martin C]

The glue was entirely enveloping the wire and pad

No it wasn't, or the glue would have still been wrapped around the wire. IPA doesn't break the glue down, it just seeps into the space between the glue and the object. What you've done is not only risky but time consuming (which makes it worse since the majority of people would just lose patience), but only applies to a few select installs.

How would you desolder the wire without removing the hot glue from atop the pads??

Easy. Crank the iron up and burn through the hot glue with it, til you get to the point. Add flux and extra solder to release the wire. Clean the iron and you're done. Takes me less than 30 seconds. Once there's nothing being held down by the glue, you can just peel it off.

 

[theagent]

No it wasn't, or the glue would have still been wrapped around the wire. IPA doesn't break the glue down, it just seeps into the space between the glue and the object. What you've done is not only risky but time consuming (which makes it worse since the majority of people would just lose patience), but only applies to a few select installs.



Easy. Crank the iron up and burn through the hot glue with it, til you get to the point. Add flux and extra solder to release the wire. Clean the iron and you're done. Takes me less than 30 seconds. Once there's nothing being held down by the glue, you can just peel it off.

It was time consuming because I did this one handed... Martin, I do this constantly. It isn't risky, there was no force being used... it's very gentle.

It takes about 20-30 seconds with both my hands. Give me a pic of how you'd like me to re-create the hot glue blobs and I'll give you another example of me removing without any risk.

You know, use whichever method you like best... but I've been doing this for years, and it's hands down the best method. I can't help but to argue this.

 

[063 xobx]

i am wondering why you would put hot glue on the solder joint anyway? i can see using small blobs along the length of the wire, but the solder joint?

b

 

[sp4rkst4rt3r]

I guess some mods do it so they know if anyone has messed about with it (e.g. warranty claim)

 

[lunuxx]

It was time consuming because I did this one handed... Martin, I do this constantly. It isn't risky, there was no force being used... it's very gentle.

It takes about 20-30 seconds with both my hands. Give me a pic of how you'd like me to re-create the hot glue blobs and I'll give you another example of me removing without any risk.

You know, use whichever method you like best... but I've been doing this for years, and it's hands down the best method. I can't help but to argue this.

Make a video with the hot glue on the cpu_rst and post_out and remove the glue from those

 

[theagent]

Make a video with the hot glue on the cpu_rst and post_out and remove the glue from those

Post out, and especially cpu rst on fat consoles are a joke... why would that be more difficult?

 

[lunuxx]

Post out, and especially cpu rst on fat consoles are a joke... why would that be more difficult?

on a slim, i just want to see you do it

 

[theagent]

on a slim, i just want to see you do it

On a slim they're about the same size as the post out of a fat console... again, I don't see how it would be more difficult than the stby clk, which is why I chose that point.

I also don't have a Slim test board to be playing with.

 

[lunuxx]

I'd have to agree with Martin C on this, better to damage the tip if it gets damaged they are a little over 1$

 

[theagent]

By all means, use whichever method you feel more comfortable with.

 

[metalfan]

I agree with theagent. I also have used rubbing alcohol to remove hot glue. It seriously works great on any point. No damage occurred. But do what work's for you. I have tried every possible way to remove hot glue. This is by far the cleanest way to do it.

 

[QcMarque]

I'd have to agree with Martin C on this, better to damage the tip if it gets damaged they are a little over 1$

what iron are you using? my tips are $10 a pop... lol.


however, to each their own - I only use kapton tape myself.

 

[Martin C]

I just have a spare (old) iron for my Aoyue station which is used for craft stuff. Even so, tips are about £2-£3 each.