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Mending Things

Long ago I started a thread on the maker movement and mending things:

https://engx.theiet.org/f/discussions/20498/maker-movement-mending-things

To avoid the original being broken up in ‘tree’ format I will start a new one. Maybe it will survive in a readable format.

The minute set button on my 20 year old Radio/CD/Alarm Clock stopped working which made it somewhat useless. I don’t want a mobile phone by my bed so I decided to try and mend it. There were some buttons I have never used, program for example, so I hoped that the switches were identical and I could swap them.

The top was held on with 3 screws. The lead for the CD Laser safety switch was very short so it had to be disconnected to get the top off. A sensible safety precaution. Four more screws and a multipin connector released the switch PCB. A quick check with a multimeter confirmed that the minute set switch was faulty and the program switch was good.

A few minutes work with a soldering iron and solder sucker and the switches were exchanged. They were also used a PCB track bridges so I couldn’t just leave one out.

Plug the cables back in, screw it back together and test. Ready for the next 20 years

 

Parents
  • I have done buried layer surgery a few times, at least once in search of a JTAG line to do something the makers never intended to be possible after leaving the factory,  in another case to fix a broken buried via, and in another to get to the memory enable lines going between two devices I did not fancy removing, both being ball grid array devices. I'm not recommending it for fun mind you, but with care and time it is possible. when you have removed enough you can see the track you want, but there is still some of the prepreg, and then manually remove that by scratching along the track length, watching under the 'scope. A rotating cutter tends to tear up the thinner tracks - often a mere 120um wide these days.

    Mike.

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  • I have done buried layer surgery a few times, at least once in search of a JTAG line to do something the makers never intended to be possible after leaving the factory,  in another case to fix a broken buried via, and in another to get to the memory enable lines going between two devices I did not fancy removing, both being ball grid array devices. I'm not recommending it for fun mind you, but with care and time it is possible. when you have removed enough you can see the track you want, but there is still some of the prepreg, and then manually remove that by scratching along the track length, watching under the 'scope. A rotating cutter tends to tear up the thinner tracks - often a mere 120um wide these days.

    Mike.

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