Salvaging Parts

[Foxkoun]

So this comes as I look at things lying around the house, I have an old card with some super small LED's. From what I understand it's possible to damage LED's with head, so how would I work around this? I would assume a fine tip solder iron, but those connections are really, really hugging the LED itself.
Beyond that I've found some extra bits from random dollar store trinkets.

 

[Gryd3]

So this comes as I look at things lying around the house, I have an old card with some super small LED's. From what I understand it's possible to damage LED's with head, so how would I work around this? I would assume a fine tip solder iron, but those connections are really, really hugging the LED itself.
Beyond that I've found some extra bits from random dollar store trinkets.

Almost all electrical components are rated to sustain heat for a given amount of time.
This is a requirement to be able to solder the parts to the board.
As long as you are not using excessive heat, or holding the iron on the components for an excessive amount of time, you will be fine.
Surface mount components can be fairly difficult to work with... you will need some desoldering equipment. (Solder braid, or solder pump/sucker)

 

[BobK]

Salvaging components that cost pennies or less is not economical.

For example, here is a kit of components that you might actually use:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Electronic-...423?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a421023c7

About 250 components for less than 2 cents a piece.

Bob

 

[(*steve*)]

One good reason to salvage components is to improve your desoldering skills. The aim is to remove parts in working order leaving an undamaged board rather than for reuse of those components

 

[shrtrnd]

I'm old-school, but when I desolder, I attach a 'heat sink' to the lead of the device I'm desoldering.
They're just metal clips that will absorb much of the heat the device might be subjected to during desoldering.
You can buy heat sink kits (that offer several different sizes), use an old hemostat that I see plenty of at electronic swap meets or at flea market sales, or even an alligator clip if you have one laying around.

 

[garublador]

What size are the LED's? At my job we do a fair amount of PCB rework and most of the components are SMT. I don't know of anyone here who has even a decent success rate of desoldering small, surface mount LED's without destroying them. They separate way too easy. It's just not worth the work to try to salvage them when they're so cheap to replace.

 

[Foxkoun]

they're small, I'd say a little larger than the end of a sharp pencil. As for why I'd salvage, yes to working on skill, but also as I'm limited on budget. I learned the hard way that radioshack is not the way to go for components.

 

[BobK]

You are right about Radio Shack. Try Ebay for common components. You can get 100s of LEDs for a few dollars. Digkey and Mouser are good for components that you cannot find on Ebay.

Edit: For instance, want some SMD resistors? You could desolder 2500 of them, or, for $8 you could get all of them you will need:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2500pcs-SMD...138?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53fe59232a

Bob