Original XBOX - Recap Motherboard, not getting enough heat to properly replace

[Vinster]

Wife got an xbox, games and a few controllers for free. But the xbox was dead.

opened it up to find five 3300uf/6.3v caps severely swollen on the motherboard. Testing the power supply, it seemed fine.

So I've replaced the five caps and now the unit is working fine (yay) 🙂

not my cleanest work 🙁 here's where I need help.

The issue is I couldn't get the pads hot enough to properly clean them. I'm using an 862D+ Soldering station. I tried all the tricks I know to clean the holes properly or to even get the cap pins through the hole... with no success...

There is a 2" square copper pad on the top of the motherboard for positive and on the bottom there is another 2" square copper pad for negative.

I also tried using the heat gun to warm up the area, I couldn't touch the board as it was so hot but the solder was still solid...

tried using my solder sucker, solder wick... no luck.

What tricks do you guys have for scenario's like this?

Thanks in advance...

Vin

 

[jplesset]

Bigger soldering iron..... Only way to heat larger mass.

 

[Art M]

Try a "Low Temperature Solder" to Dilute/ Remove ordinary Solder.

SMD & ThruHole Removal Below 150°C (302°F)

 

[Vinster]

Bigger soldering iron..... Only way to heat larger mass.

I had my iron maxed out at 480 Deg C. I've never had that not hot enough... only other thing I have that may be bigger (I've never compared them) is an old 45w wall outlet iron.

Vin

 

[Vinster]

Try a "Low Temperature Solder" to Dilute/ Remove ordinary Solder.

SMD & ThruHole Removal Below 150°C (302°F)

That's a great idea, I never thought of that.

Vin

 

[dangus]

I used a stainless sewing needle when changing motherboard caps - poke it in the hole once the solder is melted. Sometimes followed by a small twist drill if the hole wasn't open all the way through.

 

[Vinster]

I used a stainless sewing needle when changing motherboard caps - poke it in the hole once the solder is melted. Sometimes followed by a small twist drill if the hole wasn't open all the way through.

Thanks for that suggestion.

Vin

 

[Old'n'Cranky]

Chances are being a pc motherboard that it will be a multilayer board.
As in it will have several internal copper layers, not just top and bottom.
These will all wick away the heat when trying to solder.
Running a drill through the hole will possibly cut the connection to any internal layers.

 

[29285]

Maybe you do not need to clean the holes at all. Add some solder instead, heat one wire from the new cap from top side until it melts the solder and slips through the hole. Repeat with second wire.

 

[peufeu]

40W iron simply isn't enough for this kind of multilayer board, there's too much copper. A 90-100W iron with temperature control will do the job much easier.

 

[LafeEric]

Yes, a bigger iron will help. As Peufeu said there can be many layers, and caps especially will be hooked to pwr rails that can have a lot of copper and absorb a lot of heat.

Something that might also help will be a preheater - either warm it in an oven set to ~200⁰ (takes special handling) or point a heat gun or infra-red heater at the spot you hope to desolder (takes special precautions). It's nice to know that standard lead solder can be used to solder in the new components, and it melts at a much lower temperature.

I worked in repair for many years, even looked at a few Xboxes in my time. 😉

 

[jean-paul]

Yeah they are made to break down 😉

 

[Welcome]

You can usually not empty the holes. Instead heat them up (with solder in place) and push the component legs through. That's the fastest and best way to do it.

 

[HumbleDeer]

I'm able to solder on multilayer boards using a 60w (250v) iron. I use a solder pump to suck out solder from joints and it always clears the holes. It's much safer than trying to drill.

 

[29285]

You can usually not empty the holes. Instead heat them up (with solder in place) and push the component legs through. That's the fastest and best way to do it.

That's what I wrote #9

 

[Vinster]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. ended up having to use one of my old 60 watt wall plug-in iron (45w one I have wasn't enough either). the 60Watt did the trick well...

Vin

 

[dangus]

The drill bit I used is smaller than the internal diameter of the through-plated hole, so it only removes solder. I turn it by hand with a pin vise so I can feel if it bites into something harder than solder.