Who Solders?

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Having a tough time finding someone to solder my compass connector back onto the board. All of the local computer, tablet and phone repair places ship out for soldering. Skilled workers are hard to find. I finally found a willing shop and they want 60 bucks...WTF. I can buy a new board for around a hundy.
I can't stand being at other peoples mercy when its something I could do, if I learned. So, I'm gonna pay the 60 cuz I'm absolutely chompin to fly, but, I'm gonna start learning how to solder. I figure I'll get one of these beginner kits and start learning.
Should a good pilot be able to fix any problem himself on his aircraft?
 
Tried soldering on the main board once. Was going good until an unseen drip of solder fell from the soldering iron onto the main board, instantly fusing solder in numerous places on the board. What a cluster that was. Ruined the main board on a simple solder issue. Never again. Next time I'll find someone who KNOWS what they are doing and gladly pay them to do it right.

And I had to do what you were thinking.......about a 'hundy' for a new board. Geez that hurts the pride.[emoji31]


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Soldering is easy! Just always remember when soldering on a circuit board to get an iron with a real small tip (Weller makes good ones). Keep a wet sponge by to keep the tip clean. Always use small diameter solder to do the job. tint the iron first with small amount of solder then heat the objects first then touch a small amount of solder to complete.
 
Soldering is easy! Just always remember when soldering on a circuit board to get an iron with a real small tip (Weller makes good ones). Keep a wet sponge by to keep the tip clean. Always use small diameter solder to do the job. tint the iron first with small amount of solder then heat the objects first then touch a small amount of solder to complete.

Thanks for the soldering tips. It 'sounds' easy, but I may practice one day on the old dead circuit board. [emoji106]


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If you're in the NY Metro area, I can do it for you. FWIW, soldering is not a hard procedure to do.....it's the practice that goes along with it. I restore old radios and all of the circuits are hand-wired. That requires one type of technique. Printed circuit boards (PCB's) require a much smaller tip and a different technique. So if you learn to solder, practice on the technique that will be needed for the job at hand.
 
Thanks for the soldering tips. It 'sounds' easy, but I may practice one day on the old dead circuit board. [emoji106]


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Pick up a solder sucker. Yes there is such a thing. They help a bunch to clean up before you replace things. DON'T use the wicks (braded wire) they are terrible.
 
WES51.jpg


This is a great unit if your going to do a bunch. This is what we use at my work.




17537.jpg


Solder sucker!
 
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Having a tough time finding someone to solder my compass connector back onto the board. All of the local computer, tablet and phone repair places ship out for soldering. Skilled workers are hard to find. I finally found a willing shop and they want 60 bucks...WTF. I can buy a new board for around a hundy.
I can't stand being at other peoples mercy when its something I could do, if I learned. So, I'm gonna pay the 60 cuz I'm absolutely chompin to fly, but, I'm gonna start learning how to solder. I figure I'll get one of these beginner kits and start learning.
Should a good pilot be able to fix any problem himself on his aircraft?

Depending on how the compass connector was damaged you may have to replace the board as is double sided meaning traces on both sides.
 
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I have decades of soldering experience. I can clean up the blob on your PC board, or just about anything else. Northwest Ohio
 
Update: The soldering wizard stated that the copper pads are ripped off and there's nothing to solder to, he gave me back the board and connector, bummer.
So, I want to solder the 4 compass leads directly to the trace pads on the board. Does anybody know exactly where these 4 wires should be soldered? I see 2 pads close by...I need 2 others and then which to which?
 
Can you furnish a picture of the board?...
Its seems we're going to have to rebuild the copper foil onto the PCB. A few things you can try to do first.....
Try and see if you can see the "shadow" of where the foil pad was. The shadow ought to come right up to where the circuit foil was broken.
We'll go from there....
...Jim
 

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