Mesa PCB Soldering Tips

I am preparing to restore a heavily mutilated Dual Rectifier head. It will be necessary to replace some components on the main PCB, and I do not want to damage any traces or lift any solder pads. My soldering tool is a Weller WLC100 station. I have lots of experience building and repairing PTP amps, eyelet boards, and single sided PCB designs. However, I do not have much experience working on plate-thru Mesa boards. Any information, advice, tips, tricks would be greatly appreciated... best soldering/desoldering techniques, recommended iron heat, tip size, best process of removing radial caps, etc. The objective is to make this amp look factory fresh inside and out.

Mesa puts a lot of effort into their boards to make them sturdy and the traces look solid. I would use a small conical tip with a desoldering pump. You need room to get the tip and the pump to the joint. The amount of solder and component lead from the factory is tiny, so a smaller area of contact isn't a big deal and allows room to work. The less you have to mess with each one, the smaller the chances of lifting.

For the temp, a little under 700 F will help with keeping the heat from lifting copper, unless you have really awesome reflexes and a good aim with the pump. If the solder doesn't flow well enough, gently increase the temp until it does work to your satisfaction.

I'm not sure I would say these are best practices, but if one hole is giving me trouble, I've let gravity help me remove big caps. With small components, if working space or other pads are an issue, I might tug on the part/leg with pliers and use a wick to absorb the solder. In a pinch, I've just used my mouth to blow through empty, solder-covered holes to clear them while they're hot. It might contaminate the hole, but I figure that's why they make flux.....

Really, you could do it with a desoldering wick all the way through. I just personally don't like those, because I can't see under it.

Good luck, man.

De-soldering trick that I had to use with removal of lead free solder, use the solder wick with a hot solder iron pump. place solder wick down first and then the solder pump. The wick will pick up the solder and protect the PCB from getting damaged by the solder tip of the solder pump, and the suction from the pump will aid in removal of the solder. I believe Mesa uses 2 oz finished copper on their PCB so they will be harder to damage than say a 1 oz copper.

This is all good advice.

I would add that if it takes along time to melt the solder, increase the temp a bit. Heating for a long time can damage the board as much as or more than heating too hot. You want a good compromise between temp and time.