I accidentally soldered a switch on crooked. I got the switch off the board but i'm having trouble cleaning out the holes so i can put a new switch in.
Can this switch footprint be saved after being clogged with solder and melted a little, or should i try to get the other switches off and start over on a new board?
And what's the best way to desolder these switches if i have to remove the rest?
If you don’t have a solder sucker or wick like the others have mentioned you might be able to knock it out. Just use a soldering iron and heat up one at a time and when it’s melted knock the board on a surface so that the surface tension on the solder pulls it out of the through hole.
Certainly. This is a very common need with working on PCBs. You have two choices:
Solder wick
Manual vacuum desoldering tool
If you end up doing this a lot there are also very nice (and expensive) powered vacuum desoldering stations.
Regardless of which you choose, make sure to practice on a board you don't care about. It takes some time to learn how much heat to apply, angles, etc. You don't want to destroy your good board learning.
Some solder wick and flux will pull that right off.
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