Originally Posted by
FLScrapperGuy1
Is there a technique used to make it a little easier to pull gold plated pins from computer circuit boards? I found a guy throwing away 7 - yes 7 - computers including CPU chips, and a box of hard drives and slot cards (SCORE!). Now, it's just me vs. the gold pins. So far, this is what I've found that works best:
On the reverse side of the circuit board, use a screw driver tip to mash/loosen the soldered pin tips. I place the tip of the screw driver in between the soldered ends of the pins, and twist it. This breaks the soldering, and somewhat loosens the pins. Then, I flip the board over. Use the screw driver to remove plastics so pins are free and accessible from all sides. Next, I use a needle nose, grab the pin from the base, and slowly twist, in a "U" or circular fashion, the pin gripped with the needle nose. The pin, half the time, comes out whole. The other half the time, the pin snaps, and I just get a portion of it.
Is there a better way?
If you don't mind the smell, I'd look into getting a soldering pot and solder bars. It works by using molten solder to desolder items on the board but be careful as you can cook the boards surface if left over the pot too long or have the setting up too high. I've found this to be a safer method then using a heat gun or soldering iron.
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