A few years ago I asked Bob Parker (the designer of the famous Dick Smith ESR Meter Kit) if it would be possible to make a 4-wire hand-held ESR Meter that could do +/-0.001 Ohms. He said probably and he'd explore the idea but never got back to me.
Can't blame him. - He IS retired after all.
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100 khz direct synthesis is small potatoes for modern microcontrollers. I wonder if one could drive a sine wave into the cap and extract reactance and esr from the current and phase angle directly.

I have seen ESR meters more recent than mine that use a full sine wave but never looked at how they work.
Mine is the older one with red LEDs down to the bottom of the page.
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bobpar/esrmeter.htm
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Were I to get another I would probably get the EVB because I prefer removable leads so I can change clip/probe types.
Or I might mod the other to have lead jacks. The blue one is prettier. ( ;

alexanrs wrote:

My gear is FAAR from adequate for a decent recapping job.

What an obnoxiously derailed thread this has become.

Hey, I started out with a 40W iron and a typical solder-sucker tube. There's nothing wrong with that! And even though this is a no-no amongst techs, I would still suggest getting one of those inexpensive, finger-drill-bit sets, just in case you get some crabby holes that don't want to clear out. Yes, you can damage the VIA, but the honest truth is, I never have and I've had to use those tiny drill-bits in a lot of boards. Do get some quality solder as has been suggested, and some flux because sometimes you get fussy capacitor legs. Even with rosin-core solder I've had to use additional flux to get things flowing, correctly.

A very small metal-bristle brush can be good for abrading solder-pads, which helps the solder stick even better. Just trying to suggest very basic methods. I've been recapping for years and haven't had the funds to buy a nice, desoldering station.

Have fun!

Regarding the wick arguments... for a recapping job wick is OK. I've only ever used wick since it's cheap. I just apply a little flux to the spots I plan on removing and heat them and the wick just sucks it right up and I can pull the caps out.

It probably takes longer than vacuums, but I've never used a vacuum so I can't comment on it.

If I was to do many projects and not just the few I do per year then I'd probably look into a decent vacuum setup. But for a small hobbyist the wick works just fine.

Logistics wrote:

alexanrs wrote:

My gear is FAAR from adequate for a decent recapping job.

Hey, I started out with a 40W iron and a typical solder-sucker tube.
There's nothing wrong with that!

When I first started doing motherboards that and solder wick were all I had.
It's a little more time consuming but it works fine.
OP has his heart set on a station though so I didn't stress it.

Logistics wrote:

And even though this is a no-no amongst techs, I would still suggest getting one of those inexpensive, finger-drill-bit sets, just in case you get some crabby holes that don't want to clear out. Yes, you can damage the VIA, but the honest truth is, I never have and I've had to use those tiny drill-bits in a lot of boards.

This is what I use the exacto knife and needle for.
I've tried the finger bits too and it does work. I turn the bits backwards which is enough to get the solder out and is less inclined to dig into the via.
For me the exacto-needle is easier and faster most of the time so prefered.
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Maraakate wrote:

Regarding the wick arguments... for a recapping job wick is OK. I've only ever used wick since it's cheap. I just apply a little flux to the spots I plan on removing and heat them and the wick just sucks it right up and I can pull the caps out.

Yes. Dry wick doesn't work so well. Either get fluxed wick or apply some flux.
You flux the work and I flux the wick but that's more of a style thing and they both work.

Maraakate wrote:

It probably takes longer than vacuums, but I've never used a vacuum so I can't comment on it.

If I was to do many projects and not just the few I do per year then I'd probably look into a decent vacuum setup. But for a small hobbyist the wick works just fine.

Agree. For a hobbyist that only occasionally solders the small time savings doesn't make the vacuum pumps worth it.
Some people just like cool toys and that's fine (I do that too) but I'm not buying the rationalization that the time savings is a big deal unless you do a dozen-plus boards a week.

In other words for a hobbyist they don't go in the 'needed' category. They go in the 'cool optional add-ons' category.
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A lot of people like these things (in addition to the sponge) for keeping the tip clean.
Some of them need fastened down to a board or something so they don't move around on you.