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I would like to increase the vacuum power of my desoldering station. It’s a multifunction unit that includes a single vacuum pickup tool, hot air wand and desoldering gun. When using the desoldering tool or the pickup tool, the hose from the tool is connected to the vacuum port. Air is drawn in from the vacuum port and out through the wand via a hose connected to it. When using the wand tool, it works the same way, except heater located inside its housing are turned on. In order to prevent premature burn out of its heater, no tool should be connected to the vacuum port.

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To increase the vacuum pressure, I am considering adding a vacuum reserve tank with a solenoid valve. It should allow the vacuum to build up negative pressure and give a stronger, momentary suction when the valve is closed for a few seconds and then opened by triggering the desoldering gun. Since I know nothing about pneumatics, I am unsure wether or not the vacuum reserve decreases the airflow when using the wand. This is only a hunch since the tank is like a capacitor which can slow down or impede the airflow. Am I correct here? In the case that it does inhibit airflow, I also added a bypass line with another valve to circumvent the tank when the wand is in operation. Will this solve the issue? enter image description here

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I'm not sure what the first paragraph was about (pickup tool?), but if the vacuum reserve is installed like you have drawn it, there will be no appreciable loss of airflow when the solenoid is open. More likely is there will be a slight increase in flow since the line loss of the previous piping will be reduced because it is reduced by a large opening. It's not clear to me what the function on the bypass pipe on the bottom is, either. Just make the reserve tank larger and save a solenoid.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks. The pickup tool uses suction for picking up and placing discrete components as they're desoldered. The bypass tube is a dumb idea I had. I thought the tank would behave like a capacitor and slow down the airflow, so I added it to bypass the tank when the wand was in use. $\endgroup$
    – user148298
    May 21, 2020 at 3:28

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