I am having trouble removing these IGBT's from their heatsink. I have tried using a razor blade, screwdriver and a pair of pliers to twist them off. No luck. Is there some kind of heated tool for removing these?

 

Yes, look up "Soldering iron"....
If 1 iron is not heating it enough you can try 2 irons or my favorite 1 iron w/ knife tip + hot air. Either should do it just fine.

 

haha. hmmm. How would you go about it? Put the soldering iron beside the chip and pull with pliers?

 

When a razor fails, you can often use a fine wire. Much less drag. That's how sealed windshields are removed. I use 0.020 SS safety wire. Even finer gauges are available. You could also pass current through the wire, but that also weakens the wire.

Can you cut the leads and remove the heatsink and components in one group? That will allow access to the back side and more options for heating.

 

I have some 0.1mm fine hard wire thats used to separate a digitizer from a LCD. I tried but couldnt get it to slide under the chip. If the wire was heated I think it would work. I might have to remove the heatsink like you say. I'm going to see if a soldering iron on the back side of the heatsink will heat enough to remove it.

 

If its just thermal adhesive holding it I think you'd have better luck using hot air over an iron. I was on my phone earlier so I thought it was soldered for some reason. If you don't have hot air on a rework station you can use this type from somewhere like home depot (about $20)


Make sure to shield the rest of the device with kapton tape or aluminum foil. Soaking the area with acetone, goo-off or wd40 will likeley help as well. Snip the leads first. You can try using a flat square razor if you want or try just twisting it off with pliers while heating.

 

cut the leg and solder the new

 

cut the leg and solder the new

And the old ones, occupying the space?

 

Are you certain that they are faulty?

 

I'd hope TS has gotten it sorted by now.

 

And the old ones, occupying the space?

parallel soldering of the old leg