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Salvage surface mount components

by neelandan on January 29, 2007

Table of Contents

Salvage surface mount components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Intro: Salvage surface mount components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 1: Desoldering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 2: Tantalum capacitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Step 3: Ceramic Capacitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Step 4: Resistors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Step 5: Storing resistors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Step 6: Diodes, Transistors and ICs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

http://www.instructables.com/id/Salvage-surface-mount-components/
 Author:neelandan author's website
Employed as an Engineer in Electronics.

Interested in building small circuits around tiny chips (the electronic kind).

Intro: Salvage surface mount components

I shall tell you how I rescue components from old circuit boards and store them for reuse. A board from an old (relatively new, that is) hard disk drive shall be shown for
an example. The photo (taken using my scanner) shows one such board, after I removed the IDE connector.

Step 1: Desoldering
I have a movie showing my process. I am attacking a tantalum capacitor in the video, but the same process works for all other components too.

First bend a piece of thick copper (or other solderable metal) wire to fit around the component, and contact all its solder pads. Solder it in place. This is done to make
thermal contact.

Then heat the wire at a central place with your soldering iron, and lift the component away with tweezers. Or push it away using a wooden toothpick. Only don't be too
enthusiastic with the push or it will fly across the room and be lost forever in the crud that covers the (in my case anyway) floor.

These are best stored inside foam cutouts in a suitcase. Miniature, of course.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Salvage-surface-mount-components/
Step 2: Tantalum capacitors
These are the electrolytic capacitors usually found on surface mounted boards. They have to be connected the right way round. The positive terminal is marked with a
band. If there are two numbers on it, one is the rated voltage and the other is the capacitance.

I'm sorry, I do not have further info on identifying them other than checking them in a multimeter which has a capacitance range.

They usually look like little bricks with metal strips issuing from their ends, folded over the bottom.

On the left of the picture are ceramic capacitors - MLCs - short for Multi Layer Ceramic - usually they are this brown colour, though I have seen black and white, and the
ends look as if dipped in metal. There are usually no markings at all, so measurement is the only way to classify them.

Step 3: Ceramic Capacitors

Ceramic Capacitors look like bricks dipped in metal at the ends. The usual colour is brown.

Ferrite beads (or inductors) look almost exactly the same, exept that these have continuity and are magnetic. And black.

The photo shows a bunch of ceramic capacitors, and a few inductors (lower left).

If you aren't confused already, there is more to come.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Salvage-surface-mount-components/
Step 4: Resistors
In contrast to capacitors, resistors are easy. They are usually white on the underside, black on top and have the value printed on them. The last digit is the number of
zeroes. The first two or three digits are the figures before the zeroes. In ohms.

560 means fifty six ohms. 561 would be five hundred and sixty ohms. 564 would be five hundred and sixty thousand Kilohms, or, more concisely, point five six Meg.

These are also seen as arrays, pictured here are 33 ohm arrays I soldered together because I did not find any use for them.

When kept loose in a box, they tend to obey Murphy's law and all of them will be hiding white side up. And the one you want will be the one you turn up last.

Because when you find the one you want you stop looking.

Step 5: Storing resistors

So the easiest method of storing chip resistors is this one, which I have developed after much experimentation.

And countless times fighting against the urge to flush the lot down the toilet and forget about it and do something worthwhile, like watering the plants.

And saying hello to the wife and kids.

Take a piece of transparent plastic, arrange the little buggers face down on it and, suddenly, while they are least expecting it, place a piece of sticky tape over them. This
holds them immobile and you can look over them leisurely, identify the one you want, then peel back the tape and lift off that one with tweezers. The others will remain
stuck to the tape.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Salvage-surface-mount-components/
Step 6: Diodes, Transistors and ICs
Diodes and transistors generally come packed in the SOT package. This is the "small outline transistor" package, with three leads.

So a device with three leads sitting on the board might be a diode. It might be a transistor. Or it might be an integrated circuit, like a three terminal voltage regulator.

A bit of probing with the multimeter (hold the thing down with a croc clip) will usually tell you whether it is a diode, or npn or pnp transistor. Small canisters could be used
for storing them.

A thing with many legs is usually an integrated circuit. Or a resistor array.

I find that using a vintage IC involves poring over data sheets, finding components, and much design work, and that the end result is some gizmo which does some
ancient job poorly, which is why that board ended up in the junk. The effort is just not worth it. But I do keep the ones I remove, because they might come handy one day -
to build into a sculpture perhaps.

So - start desoldering, and have fun.

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Comments
39 comments Add Comment

Jimmy Proton says: Dec 5, 2010. 7:57 PM REPLY

so how do you remove those IC's with 5000 pins?

ratgod says: Dec 14, 2010. 6:40 PM REPLY

You can use a paint stripping heat-gun if you don't have access to a solder reflow workstation. It worked fine for me until I got mine a few months ago :)

Jimmy Proton says: Dec 15, 2010. 4:33 AM REPLY

what about a toaster oven, i have removed components off a board with one (accidentally) but it is reliable? and what it a solder reflow workstation?

robonut625 says: Jan 30, 2007. 12:42 PM REPLY

I hate removing SMT parts!

Nice instructable though... I like your method. You might also try making one of these:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/07/how-to-make-a-surface-mount-soldering-iron/
http://www.gideontech.com/content/articles/297/1

http://www.instructables.com/id/Salvage-surface-mount-components/
 http://www.usbmicro.com/odn/documents/ACC430664DD26DDE5986574AAA62775FDFF29EA1.html

You could also try using a clothes iron, like in this video:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5064927163860056532

beehard44 says: Aug 29, 2010. 10:45 PM REPLY

thanks for the clothes iron video! i just have a crappy soldering iron and i think the clothes iron trick will do nicely!

nullsmack says: Dec 14, 2009. 10:24 PM REPLY

That clothes iron video is amazing. Thanks for sharing it.

ReCreate says: Jun 15, 2009. 9:55 PM REPLY

Genius!

devinmccloud says: Aug 22, 2010. 2:17 PM REPLY

The easiest way is to lock the board on a vice. Use a heat gun at high speed on the backside. Slowly remove the components with tweezer or needle nose
pliers. Store components on an aluminum surface to cool fast. 99% of the components are good and reusable. Use google to look up datsheets for IC's.
Then organize components by type and size. I can strip a motherboard in 3 minutes this way.

zack247 says: Mar 27, 2010. 12:55 AM REPLY

how to do leds??? wont it melt from the heat?

TheMadScientist says: Sep 4, 2007. 11:27 PM REPLY

aha! so that is an old harddrive board!

Derin says: Jul 22, 2008. 1:49 AM REPLY

"so that is an old fujitsu harddrive board!"

zack247 says: Mar 27, 2010. 12:54 AM REPLY

ahh... i have 2 dead fujitsus, they were very good quality if you ask me...

tanmanknex says: Aug 22, 2009. 9:43 AM REPLY

isn't the one you want always going to be the one you turn over last? why would you keep looking after that? jk ;D

eric m says: Apr 11, 2009. 8:23 PM REPLY

nicde. marx generator

eric m says: Apr 11, 2009. 8:23 PM REPLY

nice

eric m says: Apr 11, 2009. 8:22 PM REPLY

IC's are such a waste. I wanted an led display and chip but you know the chip is impossible to figure out. just a waste. Ofcourse component makers don't
want a used market undercutting them.

altomic says: Jan 8, 2009. 9:20 PM REPLY

-big pot -cooking oil -stove -scooping net thing. put pot on stove add oil turn on stove when it it super hot throw in your pcb. stuff will melt off. IC are made to
withstand hightemperatures. solder will melt before there is damage to the IC. scoop out IC with skimmer thing. party on.

jackillac92 says: Feb 1, 2009. 3:54 PM REPLY

Are there any noxious fumes from doing this? Will I still be able to get regular resistors from this or willt hey melt? Will anything bad melt? Do an
instructable on this please!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Salvage-surface-mount-components/
 alex-sharetskiy says: Apr 6, 2009. 7:42 AM REPLY
plastics might melt

geeklord says: Mar 18, 2009. 5:16 PM REPLY

I'm so proud of myself, I desoldered some 8 pin SOIC's with a $16 40 watt soldering iron! They didn't even melt(I lifted half the pad on a couple pins,
though)! My iron has a nice tiny tip, and i keep it cleen. That helped a lot!

alex-sharetskiy says: Feb 25, 2008. 7:50 PM REPLY

wow... i thought the brown capacitors were resistors, and the capacitors with stripes were diodes

1up says: Feb 16, 2008. 12:16 PM REPLY

Awesome! Great method for desoldering them! I may use this sometime.

WirelessMonk says: Feb 15, 2008. 8:58 PM REPLY

Excellent! I bought a few SMD LED laden gift cards for a $1.50. I figured at a dozen leds per card it was worth seeing if I could harvest them off the pcbs.
Now I know how! Gracias!

fingers says: Dec 27, 2007. 6:29 PM REPLY

I do thr same as a hobby and keep the bad stuff out of the landfills..It also makes good art stuff..

Sawbones says: Sep 4, 2007. 11:38 AM REPLY

check this link for storage

http://www.engineeringlab.com/supkiten.html

or you can do it on the cheap like me and get those small plastic coin holders for dimes....

The Real Elliot says: Sep 3, 2007. 11:12 AM REPLY

This is a great technique. Complements the hot-air stripper gun method perfectly. (Like, when you really just want one piece out of a given area.) Thanks.

lightpacker says: Mar 24, 2007. 9:27 PM REPLY

Trust me on this get a cheap 15-25 dollar butane torch/soldering iron and if your desoldering parts i recommend getting good butane and just keep the torch
constantly moving and the solder will easily melt Just get it anywhere but radioshack their torch's fuel tank is way too small i got a bernzomatic for 15 dollars
totally worth it

Ragman says: Feb 25, 2007. 6:54 AM REPLY

Ya'know, I just use a toaster oven, wipe 'em all of when the solders hot then sort it all out. I realy like you storage idea with the sticky tape.

primoescobar says: Feb 5, 2007. 11:13 PM REPLY

This is awesome for those cheap bastards like me who can't afford a heat gun. This is great. Thank you.

neelandan says: Jan 30, 2007. 7:21 AM REPLY

Yes, it would be easier to use a heat gun - if I had one. I pulled the IC before all the joints were fully melted and this was the result. It still works, it is a
74HC04, date code 8809. I should wire it up into something, just to show it off.

bmlbytes says: Feb 5, 2007. 12:06 AM REPLY

I was about to say something about you breaking the IC. But if you notice, you hadn't goten to the circuit yet.

dfowler7437 says: Feb 1, 2007. 2:31 AM REPLY

I have an article and some pages devoted to heat gun scrounging. The following link leads to a How-To and FAQ section and a post about scrounging a rack
mount router.

http://www.uchobby.com/index.php/scrounging/

Masher1 says: Jan 30, 2007. 7:04 PM REPLY

After you try it you will kick your self how easy it is to remove even the most complex SMC bit. The trick is to use a chisel to work the components pins loose
of the solder. any SHARP small chisel will provide just enough force on the solder to BREAK the joint. Use the flat side to the PCB and angle as low as is
convenient to force the chisel at the base of the solder joint. just gentle pressure is usually enough to crack the part loose. If you can hold the chisel totally
flat you can even remove the real large chips without damage from a botched solder attempt.. if you go after a large chip or other ESD sensitive bit i would
recommend using a grounding clip on the chisel. As i said you will love this method to build the really small tek.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Salvage-surface-mount-components/
 cirano says: Jan 30, 2007. 6:01 PM REPLY
Great instructions and a sense of humour to boot! Thanks for sharing it with us.

mvieke says: Jan 30, 2007. 2:51 PM REPLY

FYI, Scotch tape may be ok to store resistors, but you shouldn't use it to secure IC's. The tape will generate an electrostatic charge when it is removed.
Some devices are particularly sensitive to ESD damage. You should used conductive tape to secure the parts to ESD foam. IMHO

letzterfreiercoolername says: Jan 30, 2007. 1:41 PM REPLY

Check out home scale DIY style vapor phase reflow (de)soldering:

http://www.ibrtses.com/projects/vapourphasesoldering.html
http://www.jpl.com/products/smt/VF_e.html

You can de- and re-solder SMT Parts of all kinds, even BGAs!
No burning or overheating parts, as printed Circuit and parts cannot get hotter than the boiling point of the fluid. No solder corrosion, as the vapor displaces
the air and thus the oxygen - even without extra shielding gas.

More info about this technique:

http://www.google.de/search?q=vapour+phase+reflow+soldering

If anyone knows a source of small amounts of "Galden HT 230" in Germany, please post it here!

onlyocelot says: Jan 30, 2007. 1:21 PM REPLY

A heat gun might be easier to use, but it heats the entire package and the surrounding board. Heat is the enemy of electronics. The idea of using a copper
wire to distribute heat to the soldered legs of the part all at the same time is a good one! It is good to clean the solder off afterwards, using medium-fine
solderwick. Also, watch the tape. Taking tape off the roll causes triboelectric stripping of electrons, putting a huge static charge on the tape. Result: when
connected across the resistor, it can cause large currents and damage the part. While most people who play with 'tronics know this to be true about FET's
and bipolars and ICs, few remember that HP started the ESD craze after discovering that they were having manufacturing losses because of static damage
to thin-film resistors. These lil' surface mount beasties are just thin film resistors with a smaller profile. Smaller means more likely to die from a fatal arc!

nobody says: Jan 30, 2007. 3:21 AM REPLY

Wouldn't it be easier to use a heat gun?

microman171 says: Jan 30, 2007. 1:26 AM REPLY

What hapened to the IC??

http://www.instructables.com/id/Salvage-surface-mount-components/