Desoldering wick

A desoldering wick comprising:

• a pad comprising at least three layers of wire mesh, the surface of the wire mesh being wettable by molten solder;
• a plurality of spaces between adjacent wires in the wire mesh;
• and
• a plurality of spaces between adjacent layers of the wire mesh for receiving molten solder drawn into the pad by the wire mesh.

A desoldering wick comprising:

• a pad comprising at least four layers of wire mesh, the surface of the wire mesh being wettable by molten solder;
• a plurality of spaces between adjacent wires in the wire mesh;
• and
• a plurality of spaces between adjacent layers of the wire mesh for receiving molten solder drawn into the pad by the wire mesh.

A desoldering wick comprising:

• a pad comprising multiple layers of wire mesh, the surface of the wire mesh being wettable by molten solder;
• a plurality of spaces between adjacent wires in the wire mesh;
• and
• a plurality of spaces between adjacent layers of the wire mesh for receiving molten solder drawn into the pad by the wire mesh wherein
• the pad comprises an elongated strip having a band about one fourth of the width of the strip along each edge of the strip folded toward the middle of the strip and a fold in the middle of the strip to form a ribbon which has four thicknesses of wire mesh and is about one fourth as wide as the original strip.

A desoldering wick comprising:

• a pad comprising multiple layers of wire mesh, the surface of the wire mesh being wettable by molten solder;
• a plurality of spaces between adjacent wires in the wire mesh;
• and
• a plurality of spaces between adjacent layers of the wire mesh for receiving molten solder drawn into the pad by the wire mesh;
• and wherein
• the pad comprises an elongated strip folded so that both edges of the strip are inside the ribbon.

A desoldering wick comprising:

• a ribbon comprising wire mesh slit from a sheet of wire mesh fabric woven with a symmetrical box weave and folded to form multiple layers of wire mesh, the warp wires of the woven wire mesh fabric and at least one fold extending along the length of the ribbon, the surface of the wire mesh being wettable by molten solder;
• a plurality of spaces between adjacent wires in the wire mesh;
• and
• a plurality of spaces between adjacent layers of the wire mesh for receiving molten solder drawn into the ribbon by the wire mesh.

A desoldering wick comprising:

• a ribbon having multiple layers of wire mesh, the surface of the wire mesh being wettable by molten solder;
• a plurality of spaces between adjacent wires in the wire mesh;
• and
• a plurality of spaces between adjacent layers of the wire mesh for receiving molten solder drawn into the ribbon by the wire mesh;
• and wherein
• the wire mesh is a woven fabric with the warp having a different spacing between the wires than the spacing between the wires of the weft, and the wider spacing of warp and weft wires extends transverse to the length of the ribbon.

A desoldering wick comprising:

• a pad comprising multiple layers of wire mesh, the surface of the wire mesh being wettable by molten solder;
• a plurality of spaces between adjacent wires in the wire mesh;
• and
• a plurality of spaces between adjacent layers of the wire mesh for receiving molten solder drawn into the pad by the wire mesh;
• and wherein
• a transverse cross section of the ribbon is in the form of a flattened spiral.

A desoldering wick comprising:

• a pad comprising multiple layers of wire mesh, the surface of the wire mesh being wettable by molten solder;
• a plurality of spaces between adjacent wires in the wire mesh;
• and
• a plurality of spaces between adjacent layers of the wire mesh for receiving molten solder drawn into the pad by the wire mesh;
• and wherein
• a transverse cross section of the ribbon is in the form of a closed V wherein each arm of the V has a double thickness of wire mesh on at least a portion of its length.

A desoldering wick comprising:

• a pad comprising multiple layers of wire mesh, the surface of the wire mesh being wettable by molten solder;
• a plurality of spaces between adjacent wires in the wire mesh;
• and
• a plurality of spaces between adjacent layers of the wire mesh for receiving molten solder drawn into the pad by the wire mesh;
• and wherein
• the pad comprises a flat face and at least one edge folded approximately normal to the flat face.

A desoldering wick comprising:

• a ribbon of solder-wettable wires;
• an insulating tube surrounding the ribbon, the cross section of the tube being sufficiently close to at least a portion of the cross section of the ribbon for frictionally engaging the ribbon and preventing the ribbon from falling from the tube, but sufficiently loosely engaging the ribbon for readily withdrawing the ribbon from the tube;
• and
• a second tube parallel to and secured to the first tube, a portion of the ribbon being in each tube.

A method for making a desoldering wick comprising the steps of:

• weaving a mesh of wire having warp and weft directions;
• slitting the mesh for forming an elongated strip;
• and
• folding the strip for forming a narrower ribbon having multiple thicknesses of woven mesh.