Soildering & PCB

[KomroFS]

Hello everyone,

I have been contacted by a friend as he is building a V 3.0 MS II, When he was soildering components onto the board he accidentally lifted a trace off the board, since i have never had this problem before my self... i thought i would ask here if i can fix it for him or if it would be to replace the board /w a new one and transfer all the components to a new one ???

any help would be appreciated, i am a Amateur Radio Operator.. Soildering is not a problem for me.. just want to help him out... i cant remember if there is a way to fix a trace or start from scracth... after looking @ his manual and here online... that board is small.. i personally dont know if it can be done... any answers ???


Sincerely,

Ray K.

[trakkies]

The normal way would be to reinforce the damaged track with some tinned copper wire of the same sort of width - remove the solder resist and solder all along. But depending on the actual track this may be tricky. The other way is to use insulated wire to replace the entire track, soldering that the the component ends.

Was he trying to remove an incorrect component? This is often the cause of PCB damage.

[Bernard Fife]

KFS,

Tracks normally only lift if they have been overheated. Often this is caused by have too cold a soldering iron, so you have to hold it at the joint for a long time to get the sodler to melt, and the heat soaks down the trace. The soldering iron should be hot enough to melt the solder almost instantly, then there is very little time actually spent to make the joint, and less heat goes into the board and components. I always let my soldering irons warm up for several minutes before using them.

To assemble any of these electronic kits, you will need a soldering iron, some solder, and a few other useful accessories. A 15 watt pencil iron will work fine, however a 25 watt iron heats up faster. Get some small solder. For example, you can use 0.75mm resin solder (~0.030") which really helps to put just the right amount of solder in just the right places. You do not need to use silver solder for MegaSquirt. Make sure to let the soldering iron get hot before using it. A hotter tip makes for quicker cleaner joints, and less heat in the components, because the temperature of the lead reaches the melting point of the solder before the component has had much time to heat up (though letting the iron heat for a while also tends to shorten the useful life of the tip). Let it sit 'powered-up' for 10-15 minutes before trying to use it. The solder should melt nearly instantly if touched to the tip.

This is the third paragraph here: http://www.megamanual.com/ms2/V3assemble.htm

Trying to remove components can easily overheat both the board and components (especially those with multiple pins), so swapping all the components over to another board isn't a great idea.

If this was mine, I would try trakkies ideas. They are the best way to work around a burnt trace.

Lance.

[KomroFS]

The normal way would be to reinforce the damaged track with some tinned copper wire of the same sort of width - remove the solder resist and solder all along. But depending on the actual track this may be tricky. The other way is to use insulated wire to replace the entire track, soldering that the the component ends.

Was he trying to remove an incorrect component? This is often the cause of PCB damage.

He was trying to solider it in place, this was his 1st attempt @ doing something like this /w no experience will have pics of the board in a day or so and the board..

will post it here to see what you think would be the best choice to fix it, but from the sounds of it would be to insulated wire and complete the trace that way from what he has told me of the trace lifting..

will wait to send pic and get some more info from you guys...

Thanks for your help in this matter...

Sincerely, Ray K.

[trakkies]

As has been said, an MS is not the kit to learn how to solder on. Nor is any multi-layer PCB.

Like all these sort of things, decent tools make things easier. And a good low voltage temperature controlled iron will help - even although a skilled solderer could be ok with a lesser one.

Other thing is to use thinner than 'normal' multi-core. The common stuff is 1.3mm. 0.8mm is far better. And, of course, lead solder. Lead free should be avoided at all costs.