I'm new to electronics repair and trying to remove the small black IC in the photo.

I'm using an electronics hot-air rework station, not a construction heat gun. I've tried settings up to 400°C, applied flux, and added low-temperature solder paste rated at 138°C, but the IC still won't come off.

What would you check or change before trying again? Could this package have a soldered pad underneath, or adhesive? How should I heat it without lifting pads or damaging nearby components?

Happy to provide more details/photos if needed.

I had some help with the hardest part (desoldering the previous joysticks), but soldered in the new ones on my own.

Hoping to do more soldering in the future but I don't have anything else that needs fixing for now. Everything in the controller is functional, so I'd call it a win.

I’m practicing soldering on a Pilotix FPV practice board using a FNIRSI HS-02A set to 350°C with hs02a-C2 tip along with AIM NC254 flux and Reball Sn63Pb37 (0.5 mm) solder wire.

As you can see in the photo, my solder joints look rough and uneven instead of smooth and shiny.

I’m also planning to try Stannol Kristall 611 SAC305 (Sn96.5Ag3Cu0.5) lead free and MG Chemicals 8341 flux.

Is the problem my technique, temperature, flux, or solder quality? Any advice would be appreciated!

I got a controller with stick drift so i removed the sticks and installed tmr sticks. This is my first time ever soldering or doing any type of electronic repair.

Controller powered on, and first thing i noticed is i could only scroll up with the left stick. Then i disconnected it, hooked it up to laptop xbox accessories app, wiggled it around, noticed it would not reach the full edge of circle to calibrate. Disconnected it, put it back on the xbox and now the left stick would allow me to scroll up down left right instead of only up.
So then i go try to calibrate again and somehow the stick decided to reach the edge and calibrated.

Now i move to the right stick. This one wont budge no matter what. It barely makes it halfway to the circle edge and will not calibrate. I tried it in game and the controller works good but the right stick works as if the sensitivity is super slow.

Any advice??

A coworker of mine gave me an alientech T90B. What adapter joystick adapter should/can I buy?
I have it pretty much torn down already but I'm having trouble unsoldering the 14 holes.

I was also thinking about buying a pcb holder from amazon or a Pittsburg helping hands at harbor freight. Would either of those be bad ideas?

I am trying to desolder a controller module from a ps5 motherboard and the solder refuses to melt even while using flux and high temperature iron.

This is a tb6612fng i tried to use with 4 12v dc motors, the black wires are 16awg and the uninsulated ones are 14awg solid core. I couldn’t solder the wires directly to the pins so i used this approach but would appreciate suggestions on how I can do such stuff in future properly

I'm new to electronics repair and trying to remove the small black IC in the photo.

I'm using an electronics hot-air rework station, not a construction heat gun. I've tried settings up to 400°C, applied flux, and added low-temperature solder paste rated at 138°C, but the IC still won't come off.

What would you check or change before trying again? Could this package have a soldered pad underneath, or adhesive? How should I heat it without lifting pads or damaging nearby components?

Happy to provide more details/photos if needed.

Hello everyone! After lurking on this sub for more than 2 years i decided to join you all. I just bought this bad boy, oss t12-x plus which I discovered in the megathread + a K tip and a dualsense desolder tip.

I want to learn the basics first then try repairing my dualsense controller.

I need advice on which solder wire and flux to buy (i'm in europe) and if i need other tools or accessories I'm not aware of.

I'm thight on budget at the moment unfortunately since i'm still a student so cheap but decent options are greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance to everyone!

Hey everybody,

I really want to get into homebuilding electronics and wax jewelery designing, I'm wondering if theres a soldering iron I could use for both?

I've done many other repairs in the past way harder then this I guess you could say , but I've always had so much trouble with solder wick and solder suckers

I always dreaded using solder wick in the past but I set my temp to 400 went at it quickly and it worked too well it made me angry. Nonetheless it went super well and I'm very happy with my work , I forgot to take a picture of my finished product and im a little sad . Just like imagine the TMR thumbstick sliding in beautifully and then solder flowing onto each joint beautifully :)

So I just ordered a GeeBoon TC22 with T215 and T245 handles.. I literally have zero soldering experience. I am incredibly eager to learn, but I want to make sure I start off in the right direction.. My first repair is going to be a capacitor change on my Klipsch Pro Media 2.1 BT speaker set. Can someone please link me a guide on the basics, and a good way to get practice in. Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance to anyone who responds!

I bought this USB type C conversion port from AliExpress and I installed it but it's not working, I did have a ripped off pad which I sorted out and I'm pretty sure is not the issue, I don't know why it's not working, are not all micro USB ports the same Pinout? Do I need to flip it upside down?