Best way to clear a PCB hole of solder?

[combustionmark]

Any time I have to remove a componet
I first give the area a good cleaning
Reflow all solder joints with new solder
Divide or Snip off part, leaving as much componet led as possible
Apply soldering iron to 1 componet led on solder side, while gently lifting led out the other
Reflow all now vacant solder holes, until slightly mounded

Using sucker
Position sucker 45 Deg to hole
Apply soldering iron until fully molten
Quickly remove soldering iron, While bringing sucker flush with hole and drawing vacuum
     if not cleared reflow hole with fresh solder and repeat

Using Solder wick
Apply flux to wick
Position wick as to cover half the hole
Apply Soldering iron to solder wick directly over hole
Watch for solder to draw into wick
Remove wick and soldering iron together
     if not cleared reflow hole with fresh solder and repeat

Eather way should give good results.

Practice Practice Practice

Get out some old electronic thingy and tare it to shreds. "Just not something you use."

Start with some resistors, then transistors, then them pesky caps, and finish it off with those IC's.

Invest in your tools. Good tools help make good work.
  There is nothing worse than trying to fix something with the wrong or broken tools.


Have Fun

[mms]

If you do not have a desoldering tool... I have seen people heat the hole with the solder until it melts and then tap the pcb on the bench.  The molten solder will come out of the hole - the momentum makes the solder continue to move but the pcb has stopped moving.  You need to be careful doing this but it does work in a pinch.

You've seen people do this??  LOL.  Were you looking in a mirror?

[inzeos]

If you do not have a desoldering tool... I have seen people heat the hole with the solder until it melts and then tap the pcb on the bench.  The molten solder will come out of the hole - the momentum makes the solder continue to move but the pcb has stopped moving.  You need to be careful doing this but it does work in a pinch.

You've seen people do this??  LOL.  Were you looking in a mirror?

A friend of mine who often salvages tons of components off computer gear for his various crazy projects does it with a torch.  He heats up the entire back of the board, whacks it on his work bench and nearly everything comes flopping out.  Crude but it works!  Wouldn't do it on anything I cared about or was building though...

[rrawlings]

The tapping method is a proven way of removing solder from a hole.  I have been an owner and manager of a contract PCB assembly shop for over 20 years and have used this method too.  I don't like to give advice here because it usually brings out the sniping comments like the one about looking in a mirror.  And yes the method works.  I have seen more PCB's damaged at the hands of amateurs using solder wick than any other method, especially when cleaning pads for surface mount components.  We actually took solder wick away from our assemblers a number of years ago.

[mms]

It definitely works!  When I was building my LE, I f'd up the solder for one of the sockets and we couldn't get it out with the desoldering tool, the solder vaccum, etc.  He (PK) didn't care for this one bit and used that trick to get the solder out of the hole and made me re-do it.  I felt like the coach's kid in little league.

I just found his phrasing funny, seeing as he knows (and uses) all the tricks!

[jess_her]

Oh I've seen  and done some funny things  Bottom line quickest way heat the solder with the minimum amount of heat to the board/component. How many of you seen a rockwell spider chip from the 70's with something like 40 pins? I have used a propane torch on a junk board to get the chip out  and also used solder wick to remove these without board damage.
As Combustionmark says    Practice Practice Practice !
get good  and practice more
Rip the back off the TV pull the board make the wife proud   

[lineman]

Rip the back off the TV pull the board make the wife proud   
   

 Oops you forgot to mention wait till her soaps opera's are done 

[combustionmark]

Yea I also have played with torches.

I remember using an old solder pot to "flash solder" all the parts to a PCB, I saw it done on one of them cable channels.

COOL!! I CAN DO THAT!!

Yea right!! Talk about solder bridges.

Have Fun

OH YEA, That red wire,  Have the wife hold on to it..

[chrisatpsu]

on one of the freestyles i built, i ended up putting one of the chip sockets in backwards. after removing the socket, i had quite a few holes filled with solder. 20pin socket.   using the RS desoldering braid really helped me clean them out.