PS360 Controller Help

[Riot Pig]

I'm a bit of a rookie when it comes to electrical work, but I'm attempting a PS360 controller by working my way through Ben's PS360 controller guide.

I've only just started it, and I'm already stuck. I can't, for the life of me, get the larger pins on the analogue sticks desoldered. I'm using a standard 17W soldering iron. Here's a picture:



As you can see, I've tried melting the solder to no avail, and the PCB board is starting to burn. I've also tried dumping extra solder on and melting that, but that doesn't work either. Help anyone?

[Gordon1]

ok, two things;

1. Is your iron tinned? if not get some tinning solution and do that. it is also ok if solder sticks to the tip. Get some solder on the tip and mush it into the new stuff. This helps conduct the heat from the iron to the trace.

2. Go to radio shack and buy a desoldering iron. If you plan on getting anywhere you will want one of these. They are like $12 in Canada.
here

[Riot Pig]

The soldering iron is just a stainless steel tip. Finding a desoldering iron could be a bit hard, as I live in New Zealand. But I'll keep a look out for one.

What wattage iron would you recommend?

[rockem sockem forever!]

http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storef ... View/T2567

were are you from BTW?, north island or south?

[Riot Pig]

South Island.

Got one of those solder suckers already. Just can't melt the solder on the larger pins - the smaller pins have been fine.

[rockem sockem forever!]

Got one of those solder suckers already

are they any good?

[Riot Pig]

Yeah, they're not bad. Sometimes you have to dump extra solder on before sucking it all up, just so it's able to reach the solder. Haven't used a desoldering iron though, so I've got nothing to compare it to.

[grossaffe]

you guys got some fancy tools. all i got are a soldering iron, soldering solution, and a little air-puffer. oh, and solder, of course.