Alan Mancus posted:yes you need a very small tip soldering iron and the traces can be destroyed very easily, most techs just clip off the old fet leads and then clean off the excess pieces with solder iron n brush while heated !then after cleaning pc board install a new fet ic!
There's a lot more than tip size in play, the most important parameter is the temperature. I stick to the minimum temperature needed to work on PCB's, as excessive heat will lift the traces. Also, many parts have a spec of 260C for 10 seconds for soldering. If you're doing any amount of PCB work, a calibrated temperature controlled iron is a must IMO.
