That guy who said to never use solder wick on old Leica wire joints was totally right

My buddy Dave who runs a shop in Portland warned me about this. I tried it anyway on a M3 shutter wire last month and ended up lifting a pad. Cost me $150 to get someone to jump the trace. Now I just use a tiny iron and fresh rosin core, no wick at all. Any of you have a trick for getting old solder off without wrecking the board?

2 comments

2 Comments

anthonymurray17d ago

Ngl, I think the real issue people miss is that most wick out there is Chinese factory stuff with way too much flux baked in. I bought a roll of genuine Kester wick from a surplus electronics shop in Seattle and it's night and day different. The cheap stuff gets sticky and pulls pads because it bonds too hard to the board. But even with good wick, you gotta flood the joint with fresh flux first and let it cool naturally. Rushing it is what kills those old phenolic boards, not the wick itself. I've done maybe 30 Leica joints this way without a single lift.

matthewkim17d ago

Same thing happened to me on a Leica M2 last year, ripped a pad clean off and had to mail it to a guy in Arizona for repairs. Now I just use a desoldering pump with a silicone tip and heat the joint from the component side, way safer than wick on those brittle old boards. Ended up paying twice what your repair cost so I feel your pain, these cameras don't forgive sloppy work.