Solved Easiest way to remove Wii components?

[Saix]

So I could use a little advice here. What does everyone do for desoldering components? I've noticed that Nintendo's boards are usually pretty tough when it comes to trying to desolder things. I've learned that you can actually just break the GameCube controller ports off clean and not lose any necessary pins if you do it carefully, but the memory card slots are a bit trickier because of that metal shroud. I've tried heat guns in the past, but my experience with those is I end up melting the plastic ports before I melt the solder. I've tried wick, and I also have a desoldering iron, one of the manual ones with the turkey baster style pumps on it and it works fine for most things, but since the components are through hole it doesn't always get all of the solder. Any advice is much appreciated!

 

[Noah]

A hot air station is a really good investment in my opinion. With the exception of the CPU, GPU and RAM, everything on the Wii motherboard is probably rated to handle higher temps than what solder liquefies at. I use hot air to desolder most things and it never lets me down.

https://www.amazon.com/YOUYUE-Rewor...id=1488161995&sr=8-4&keywords=hot+air+station

Something like that will do the job just fine.

 

[Saix]

A hot air station is a really good investment in my opinion. With the exception of the CPU, GPU and RAM, everything on the Wii motherboard is probably rated to handle higher temps than what solder liquefies at. I use hot air to desolder most things and it never lets me down.

https://www.amazon.com/YOUYUE-Rewor...id=1488161995&sr=8-4&keywords=hot+air+station

Something like that will do the job just fine.

Awesome, thanks! Ordered one and it'll be here in a few days