As anybody who has tried to work on through-plated PCB's either repairing/modfying or building equipment will attest. De-Soldering components on a through-plated PCB is a royal pain with standard soldering equipment. RoHS compliant Lead-free solder (which can have both a higher melting point and higher viscosity when molten) just adds to the problem. Traditional wick or pneumatic based handeld pump based desoldering techniques tend to either result in lots of frustration or damaged components/PCB's. Lift a pad on a multilayer PCB and you have just created yourself a reasonable amount of work beyond the original repair.

There is a solution which is a purpose built reflow tool. If you haven't seen or used one before they are a revelation. Essentially you have a straw like hollow soldering bit which you place over the component leg on the joint. Press a trigger and a vacuum pump sucks the molten solder into a capture vessel. With a tiny bit of practice components will literally be falling into your hand.

Unfortunately these solutions tended to be expensive enough that they are out of reach of anything but a very dedicated hobbyist or professional Engineer.

However the Duratool Station is eminently affordable and seems to perform very well.

Read below for my full review

My latest attempt at finding the perfect business phone comes to an end. I have upgraded my Orange Business mobile contract to the Nokia E71 and what a beauty it is. Read on for my review.

For some time now I have been pondering over the purchase of the new wave of affordable netbooks. I was first inspired by the Asus EEE 700 but after seeing a few purchased by clients I decided that the 7" screen would hinder me.

The 900 had the screen I wanted but had edged considerably over the £200 I wanted to spend and the smaller capacity battery in the UK models disturbed me, I found myself waiting for the Atom based 901 but again this was above my ideal price point.

Then this bank holiday I noted that Currys had a special offer on for the Acer Aspire One at £199. My debit card got the better of me and before I knew what was happening I had left the store with one tucked under my arm.

I listen to more music on my computer than the expensive HI-Fi setup downstairs so it was time to do something about the very unHi-Fi sounds that were coming from the Harmon Kardon HK-695's.

These suffer from the same problem that seems to affect just about every computer orientated sub/sat setup I have heard...a total lack of midrange and a harsh edgy top end.