PSA: That $40 desoldering gun from Amazon is a total scam

I bought one of those cheap desoldering guns off Amazon for $40 thinking I'd save money over a Hakko, and it clogged up after three uses on an old TV board. The suction died halfway through pulling a 16-pin IC, and now I've got a ruined board and a useless tool sitting in my drawer. Anyone else get burned by these knockoffs or did I just pick the wrong one?

3 comments

3 Comments

oscarw831mo ago

Come on man, I gotta push back a little here. You bought a $40 desoldering gun from Amazon and expected it to work like a Hakko? That's like buying a $50 cordless drill and being shocked when it can't drive a 4-inch screw through a stud. A cheap tool is a cheap tool, it's not a scam if it does exactly what you paid for it to do, which is barely work at all. I've had a $35 desoldering gun for almost two years now and it's been fine for basic stuff like pulling resistors and caps, but I clean it after every session and I don't try to pull 16-pin ICs with it. You need to match the tool to the job. That gun was never meant for heavy work on old TV boards. You got what you paid for, not a scam.

ruby_patel271mo ago

Dude, 100% this. I grabbed a $45 one off AliExpress last year and it's been totally fine for cleaning up old joystick boards and pulling single components. You just gotta know its limits and clean it after every use like you said. Ever tried putting a tiny dab of solder wick on the tip before you start?

lily_singh222d ago

Yeah you got what you paid for, not a scam" is exactly what my buddy Mark said after his $38 gun caught fire on his workbench. He had used it twice and it started smoking during a cap replacement on an old stereo.