X360 ; component desoldering help

[Tallon]

I've been trying to desolder the pins to take the tall usb ports off xbox 360 the board for a few weeks now, wasting a lot of money on different soldering irons, butane iron, 25w, a few 40,45w's, desoldering braids, bulbs and I can't seem to even melt the solder on the ground pins attached to the usb casing.
I've probably overheated the entire board any times it's probably ruined and all scratched up from forcing the iron on the pins. I need sooo much pressure to melt this solder, I don't understand why. I can melt any other solder on the board. Even when I manage to melt it a little bit it won't stay melted long enough even if the iron is still touching it, making it impossible to suck, and heating through the braid def. won't melt it. I understand the solder they used is harder to do but damn!
Oh and it won't come off if I add my own solder over top of it, either. Just makes a bigger mess to clean up.

Any ideas?
Thanks

[bicostp]

This might sound counterintuitive, but try adding fresh solder to the joint. Sometimes that can help melt the old stuff.

The ground connections on those jacks are usually soldered right to the main port housing, so it takes patience to heat that part up enough for the solder to melt. (It even takes a little bit to work with my 65w iron.)

[Tallon]

But I've tried that, that's usually how I put solder on
Anyway, I thought it wasn't good to put that much heat into the board and components, I've heated up most of the board by doing this to one point. I've spent hours at a time trying to get one of these loose if that's not enough patients then I don't know

[dfukuba]

What helps out a lot with soldering connectors that have a lot of pins is a heat gun. I would use this to take off parts for other projects. you want to make sure you don't get it tooo hot though...you can burn the fiberglass and ruin the board.

Adding more solder helps as well...one technique is to cover all the pins with one big ball of solder (because of the larger mass, it keeps it self as a liquid longer) then you smack the board against the table (not too hard of course) and the part just falls out. I would suggest not doing this though because that big ball of solder will go all over your other parts :")

here is a tutorial for removing smd parts with hot air (i've used a generic automotive hot air gun and got great results) http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/tutori ... ials_id=98" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

hope this helps.
--danny

[snowpenguin]

This is through hole, not SMD, right?

Adding more solder works if you use flux solder.

Have you tried adding a crapload of flux to the pins?

[Tallon]

Hey guys thanks.
Yes, through hole, no I have never had flux before but you know what I did do...
I wiggled the USB ports so the pins started showing enough on the top of the board, and I took a dremel with a disc and sawed off the pins lol
I got so impatient but luckily I didn't slip and hit the board.