Paul Millington wrote:
>
> Please help.
>
> Problem:  Broken VCR circuit board from shock of computer monitor
> landing on top of VCR while moving electronics in car during rush-hour
> traffic (sudden stop.)  Plus, it is my friends $1400 VCR that I
> broke.  Circuit board broke into 2 pieces.  Copper tracers(?) broke.
> Need to reconnect tracers.

        The first thing I would worry about is the tape transport
        and heads.  An impact severe enough to do this much damage
        can't have "helped" those assemblies.  But, at $1400, it's
        worth a shot.
>
> Picture:  I have uploaded a picture of the broken board (now epoxied
> together) at http://www.digitalnebula.com/vcr.jpg  You should be able
> to see the copper tracers as I have etched away all the green stuff,
> and epoxied the 2 halves together.
>
> Solutions:  The only things I have found so far to fix it are
> "Pretinned solid bus wire", 24-gauge, $1.79 from Radio Shack, or a
> "Etch your own PC board" kit, $13.99, from Radio Shack also.
>
        You'll need something finer than 24 gauge, I expect you'd
        want to use something like a #30 Kynar, commonly used for
        "wire-wrap(TM somebody)".  I think Radio Shack sells some
        "wire-wrap(Gardner Denver?)" or similar supplies. You'll
        also want as fine and low-temp a soldering iron as you can
        find, and someone who's done recent soldering on boards
        with today's very fine-pitched parts.  A dab of liquid flux
        may be in order as well, fine solder doesn't usually have
        enough of a flux core for this kind of touch up.

        One other hint that I'd have is you don't need to do all
        the jumpers right at the damage site, where they're all
        next to each other.  I'd follow some of the traces back
        a 1/4 inch or so, maybe on every other one.  Just gently
        scrape off the soldermask (green stuff) and "tin" it with
        the flux and a little solder.

        Mind you, I haven't attempted this sort of repair in oh,
        10 years, so your mileage may vary.

        For more/better info, I'd suggest the newsgroup,
        sci.electronics.repair

        You've just given us all a good reminder why some folks
        keep the original packing cartons for their "stuff".  Guess
        it's a good idea after all.

        Good luck!
--

      Jeff Seeger                          Applied CAD Knowledge Inc
      Chief Technical Officer                   Tyngsboro, MA  01879
      jseeger "at" appliedcad "dot" com                 978 649 9800

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