user33331 wrote:

Sad thing is there are only a few Pentium II\III slot-1(or 370) motherboards which are in fully working condition. - I have many […]
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Sad thing is there are only a few Pentium II\III slot-1(or 370) motherboards which are in fully working condition.
- I have many motherboards but all have exploded capacitors. Good luck in changing 20+pcs of caps 😢
- I then bought a "restored" socket A motherboard online and even it had at least 1pc of cap replaced.
- Soon those slot-1 adapters will be pretty much useless.

Replacing caps is super easy. I've recapped power supplies and motherboards as well as some on a few video cards.

All you really need is a good soldering iron, some solder paste style flux and some good solder. Also a wire brush to clean the soldering iron tip or one of those fancier style tins that has something like steel wool in it that you just plunge the iron into to clean it off.

1. Tin your soldering iron tip
2. put some paste style flux on the solder joint.
3. Melt the solder on one leg of the capacitor and then tip the capacitor the opposite way so it pulls that leg out part way.
4. Repeat on the opposite leg
5. Repeat 3 and 4 until both legs are free.

And if you really want to make it easy, a hot-air rework station works a treat as well. And if you want to suck the solder from the holes, then a vacuum desoldering station works best - a real one, not those crappy Chinese things with a "vacuum pump" built into a soldering iron.

Haha. What evil magic of the 1990s is this?

cyclone3d wrote:

Replacing caps is super easy. I've recapped power supplies and motherboards as well as some on a few video cards. […]
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user33331 wrote:

Sad thing is there are only a few Pentium II\III slot-1(or 370) motherboards which are in fully working condition. - I have many […]
Show full quote

Sad thing is there are only a few Pentium II\III slot-1(or 370) motherboards which are in fully working condition.
- I have many motherboards but all have exploded capacitors. Good luck in changing 20+pcs of caps 😢
- I then bought a "restored" socket A motherboard online and even it had at least 1pc of cap replaced.
- Soon those slot-1 adapters will be pretty much useless.

Replacing caps is super easy. I've recapped power supplies and motherboards as well as some on a few video cards.

All you really need is a good soldering iron, some solder paste style flux and some good solder. Also a wire brush to clean the soldering iron tip or one of those fancier style tins that has something like steel wool in it that you just plunge the iron into to clean it off.

1. Tin your soldering iron tip
2. put some paste style flux on the solder joint.
3. Melt the solder on one leg of the capacitor and then tip the capacitor the opposite way so it pulls that leg out part way.
4. Repeat on the opposite leg
5. Repeat 3 and 4 until both legs are free.

And if you really want to make it easy, a hot-air rework station works a treat as well. And if you want to suck the solder from the holes, then a vacuum desoldering station works best - a real one, not those crappy Chinese things with a "vacuum pump" built into a soldering iron.

I bought a 50 dollars Chinese iron and it works great. I payed extra to get a proper vacuum gun too. It really isn't that difficult - especially with a nice fat soldering tip.

The only issue I have run into is on my older circuit board the solder will sometimes lose all of its flux, so it refuses to melt and suck out cleanly. I end up having to take my smallest tip and wedge it in the through hole to try and melt it that way, then wipe it on my sponge. Is there an easier way to do that? I don't add any flux to the joint, does that help get the solder nice and wet?

yes u need to add flux and sometimes even new solder to the old joint to get it to melt properly and suck it all out

sucking out old solder joins on retro hardware without using any flux or new solder is a dream which doesn't happen often

When rub the joint gently with your iron or desolder gun and hear that little squeeking it means the joint is fully melted, visually sometimes it looks melted but it's just the solder on top of the old cold one

treeman wrote:

yes u need to add flux and sometimes even new solder to the old joint to get it to melt properly and suck it all out

sucking out old solder joins on retro hardware without using any flux or new solder is a dream which doesn't happen often

When rub the joint gently with your iron or desolder gun and hear that little squeeking it means the joint is fully melted, visually sometimes it looks melted but it's just the solder on top of the old cold one

Cool, I'll have to try that next time. Thanks for the tip!