Hi!!!

[zeno]

Solder removal, what an exiting subject !

Ear irrigator style I found useless. One tech I knew swore by
them cause solder wick cost $$. He was a cheap prick. Out
of biz before anyone else..........

Plunger style works great on large stuff like FBT pins with
griplets. Suck it clean then use dikes ( not that kind) to
pull on the pins & free them.
DO NOT use around SMD's you can suck up half a dozen
resistors & caps & ruin your day.

Solder wick is best for delicate work. A little practice & you can
swap out a jungle IC in 5 mn. Its all in how you you angle the
iron & wick. Get it right & you got it made in the shade.

Professional vacuum stations. I found one at the dump once.
Real pissah machine with a heat controlled iron & desoldering
iron on the other side that had a vacuum suck up.
Looked it up & found it went for over 1K$ USD ! The
boss sprung for tips, filters & a manual. Damn thing was like
owning a Euro sports car. Very touchy to keep running......
IMHO if it were in constant use on a rework line it may have
worked well but NOT for the TV shop.

Pull it & hope there are holes.
Old school way. Biggest problem is usually no holes so you try
to coax off the solder. Usually ends up with etch hanging off
the tip of your iron.

So for me it was QUALITY wick & a plunger solder puller.
For hand wired Zeniths a Weller station with the hottest
round tip was a joy on the terminal strips.

73 Zeno