Motherboard DC jack removal/desoldering misery

[mrbongo]

For the next time (and future readers), try solder wick to remove the solder. It's the stuff that people use to solder miniaturized and BGA components by hand (and remove the mess of solder that doing it by hand causes), so it's pretty close to magic.

Btw, professionals of board recycling use heat guns.

I got a length of solder wick but it wasn't too successful due to the space I had to work with inbetween motherboard components and underneath the remaining broken DC jack. That said, it did work pretty well in my practise with the soldering iron. Heat gun, yes, I would have preferred to use that as I expect it cuts down time spent focusing the iron tip on a tiny area.