Hey All you Einsteins out there!!

    I gotta' problem...('course you do Steve, or you wouldn't be bugging the
TechNet now would you?) I had a phone call from a acquaintance of mine wanting
to bring two prototype boards over to rework a BGA socket, (actually there's
two on each board). No problem I said, bring em' on over. BOY O' BOY! Did I
ever open my big yap this time! These sockets aren't like anything I've ever
reworked before.

     They're from a company called CTI, and they're called "Z-Lok" sockets,
and they're surface mount. They've got this big beefy plastic housing that
goes all the way down almost to the surface of the PCB, and has a little metal
handle off to one side that actuates some little "arms" inside the socket that
grab each ball on the BGA for good contact, but won't deform the balls so you
can still use the BGA directly on a board after being in the socket if you
wanted to.

     The problem is that the socket has two locating pins on the bottom, which
are used to accurately locate the socket (into holes drilled in the fab) when
the board was first built. There was a big time screw-up by either the fab
vendor, the board lay-out person, or the dimensional drawing for the socket
itself, but what has happened is that the BGA's contact pins are now soldered
one row off! I'm being asked if I can pull this socket up, clip the plastic
pins off, and put it back down on the board the way it's supposed to
go...sounds like fun huh? This board is 12.5" X 18.5" and .065" thick...and
the sockets are in the middle of the board.

     I called back to CTI (They're in Indiana, but closed now) to talk with
somebody there to find out how to rework one of these monsters...if it's
possible.
I personally think that the socket is not meant to be reworked, it's a test
socket and has to cost at least a hundred bucks or so. I think that once
they're soldered down that's it. But I thought I'd ask ya'll to see if any of
you have ever had to attempt something like this. There's only two of these
boards, I don't wanna take a chance turning em' into scrap if I can help it...

Thanks!!

-Steve Gregory-

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