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Comment by 5cactuses | Hacker News Reader

Not the author but I can answer your questions. Anyone can have a multilayer board fabbed by uploading the Gerbers to a fab house -- the board shows up on your doorstep anywhere from a day to a month later, depending how much you want to pay. Fine pitch SMD parts can be hand soldered with hot air and a binocular microscope; rework techs routinely do it every day.

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I always tend to burn up PCBs when I try to de-solder broken parts with a hot air station. I usually use 300°C and a small nozzle... but always until the solder melts at the first pin, the PCB turns black-ish. What do I do wrong there?

If you're trying to de-solder a BGA component, I can't help, but any other surface mount stuff check out Chip Quik Alloy. It's a super-low melting point solder that you can use to take off pretty much any non-BGA component with a standard iron and a pair of tweezers. Cleans off with braid.

Thanks for the hint!

Why not use a plate/skillet for BGA desoldering?

Something I've found helpful is pre-heating the board (e.g., with an under-board IR heater) before breaking out the hot air. As another poster has mentioned, chip-quick is also great stuff.

Use higher airflow (including a larger nozzle) and lower temperature. The temperature calibration might be a bit off if the soldermask gets damaged by air at 300°C. Preheating, which has already been mentioned, also helps.

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