General questions about repairing acid damaged boards
William
acid damaged components..everything including chip sockets. What I'm
finding is the acid damage is underneath the protective layer
following the traces. Should I remove the coating over all the
damaged traces and clean them as well? Is there any product out there
to re-cover the traces after cleaning them. The damaged areas are
caked badly in a couple spots. Do most people cut bad spots out all
together and just jumper the connections? If there is a method to all
this please..let me know.
So far I have soaked the board in a distilled vineager solution and
used a medium toothbrush to remove some of the surface damage..then
started removing the components that are eat up.
William
Tito
the acid damage is bad enough that it just isn't worth the time and effort
required. I tried to fix a pretty badly damaged Omega Race board years back
and gave up - some of the traces were shot so I used a conductive ink pen
with limited success, many of the thru holes were gone which made installing
new sockets a pain, not to mention the metal that was left often didn't like
to let solder stick to it. I eventually got it semi working but could never
fix it fully. My advice: there's no shame in looking for a less-damaged
board if yours is pretty bad. With that said, for your traces you could
strip off the green stuff and rub them lightly with vinegar and very fine
wet-dry sandpaper. Check that continuity is good of course.
HTH,
-Rob
"William" <wbowi...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:574a0c63-f707-45e9...@e60g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
> No one has any advice???
>
William
> I think the main advice you're going to get is, "Good luck" :). Sometimes
> the acid damage is bad enough that it just isn't worth the time and effort
> required. I tried to fix a pretty badly damaged Omega Race board years back
> and gave up - some of the traces were shot so I used a conductive ink pen
> with limited success, many of the thru holes were gone which made installing
> new sockets a pain, not to mention the metal that was left often didn't like
> to let solder stick to it. I eventually got it semi working but could never
> fix it fully. My advice: there's no shame in looking for a less-damaged
> board if yours is pretty bad. With that said, for your traces you could
> strip off the green stuff and rub them lightly with vinegar and very fine
> wet-dry sandpaper. Check that continuity is good of course.
>
> HTH,
> -Rob
>
>
> news:574a0c63-f707-45e9...@e60g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
>
> > No one has any advice???
Yeah I'm looking at replacing 10 sockets froma previous repair
job..adding three more..plus replacing a few diodes and resistors in
the area around where the battery failed. After I get everything
removed and the traces as clean as possible I'm gonna try one or two
sockets and see how well it goes. I'm taking pics as I go and will be
doing some documenting incase it all works out.
microlo...@yahoo.com
Vinegar, huh? I've got an omega race board with light acid damage, as
well as a couple midway power supply boards that need it too. guess
i'll give that a try.
kennyp2112
>
> - Show quoted text -
http://www.pin-logic.com/ACID%20DAMAGED%20BALLY%20MPU.htm or
http://www.pinrepair.com/bally/index1.htm#battery
I know these links are about pinball repair,but the same should apply.
microlo...@yahoo.com
As far as covering the traces after cleaning them, you might try
something like this:
John Robertson
http://flippers.com/battery.html
John :-#)#
--
(Please post followups or tech inquiries to the newsgroup)
John's Jukes Ltd. 2343 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 3C9
Call (604)872-5757 or Fax 872-2010 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games)
www.flippers.com
"Old pinballers never die, they just flip out."
William
Yup I guess the only thing to do in this situation is clean,
clean..and clean some more as well as closely examine and replace
components that might be damaged.
Hammer5550
we had a site as complete to fix video games and boards. What I have
used to remove acid damage form my pin boards is permatex battery
corrosion cleaner for automotive batteries (found in any auto parts
store) it works as well as the vinegar solution, but I usually do wash
the whole board with the vinegar solution after I get all the
corrosion off just in case, followed by alcohol to help it dry, A
great tool I have found for cleaning the traces and other corrosion
off the board is one of those fiberglass pens you can buy for cleaning
rust and stuff out of rock chips on your car, any auto parts store
should have them, if not the Eastwood company sells them, they are
easy to use,and you have better control then with sandpaper, plus you
can buy replacement ends for them if they wear out. Good luck if you
cant find what I am talking about, I will try and post a link.
William
Great suggestions!! I'll definitely give those a try. BTW anyone
have a good solution to removing acid damaged solder? It seems that
the chemical changes solder goes under makes removing it almost
impossible. The only thing I can think of doing to avoid heat damage
to the board is to use the smallest drill bit available for my dremel
tool and just drill out the holes. I know this is not ideal..but bear
with me. In the past I have taken desoldering wick and used
individual strands of copper threaded through the holes with the
component lead. That insured that new solder would flow through to the
other side. So far I have had great success..the only down side is its
very tedious to do and makes removing components in the future more
difficult.
Hammer5550
fresh solder to the item you are trying to remove (example trying to
remove an IC etc.) then use desoldering wick or a desoldering tool
(sodapult, etc.) to remove the solder, The new solder usually softens
the old solder. Clays pinball site linked above talks about this more
as well as removing components form boards. Also I have found using
some extra flux with the fresh solder sometimes helps also. Hope this
helps!
William
Yes!! Definitely all the info has been very helpful. So far as
removing damaged components go I'm just clipping them off and leaving
the leads behind so I have something to hold with my needle nose
pliers. Its very tedious. Also..I can see a few gaps in 3 spots on
the board where the trace has been completely eaten away. This may
be a sign to not go further and risk wasting time and money.
seymour-shabow
I generally give up on a particular board once it gets to the point that
desoldering is hard to do. You can generally get it off if you have a
temp controlled iron, crank it up a lot higher than 'normal'. If I
can't desolder it at 900-950 (not sure of the ultimate temp it's not
marked on the dial on my station) I consider the board non-repairable
and scavenge whatever parts I can off it.
BTW, it's alkaline, not acid. Most people just say 'corrosion' so
you're always right. The stuff that leaks out of batteries is called
'acid' due to tradition - the same way old people call all video game
cartridges 'tapes'.
-scott
James Sweet
"seymour-shabow" <seymour...@excite.com> wrote in message
news:fsqm5u$gkn$1...@aioe.org...
It's always repairable. Add some flux, a bit of fresh solder, heat it up
enough and it'll come off. If the corrosion is really bad, I often sandblast
the section to get it down to bare copper, then rebuild any missing traces
with wire wrap wire. Paint on some new solder mask when finished.
The corrosion is a pain in the butt, but so long as you can get it off, it's
not the end of the world.
seymour-shabow
>
> It's always repairable. Add some flux, a bit of fresh solder, heat it up
> enough and it'll come off.
Along with the pad and the traces. I always keep an extra supply of
boards around in varying states of repair so that I have a good core to
build on when I get a new game in. Since I only collect pinball the
boards are more interchangeable than video game boards.....
> If the corrosion is really bad, I often sandblast
> the section to get it down to bare copper, then rebuild any missing traces
> with wire wrap wire. Paint on some new solder mask when finished.
> The corrosion is a pain in the butt, but so long as you can get it off, it's
> not the end of the world.
>
Depends on how many traces it eats first......and it really sucks
getting it out of the wiring harness.
-scott