Capacitor replacement — #10

Post #10 by Mike Richardson

Source Forum	Capacitor replacement — #10
Category	Troubleshooting
Post Date	Fri, 3 Aug 2007 - 05:22
Original URL	https://68kmla.org/bb/threads/capacitor-replacement.9319/

Post

Mr. Richardson, can you please explain to us how you broke these pads in the first place in light of the fact you clearly know nothing about "solder"?? And how did you replace those capacitors you say you've replaced? Glue? Indeed not. You used solder. Copper wire is made to be inserted into those "holes" of which you speak. And to affix that wire to those holes permanently, you simply use solder.
I'm quite confused by your last post, so perhaps you should explain to us more what is going on. Because I for the life of me cannot see why you are having trouble unless you don't understand solder. But again, if you don't know what solder is, then how did you replace those caps?!

Regardless, I can only add that any old DMM (multi-meter) with a continuity check feature will be useful to you in that it will "eliminate doubts" about where to wire something. If you have a doubt where one of those dislocated pads originally led, and if you cannot follow the trace with your eyes for some reason, you simply put one problem at the trace edge where the broken pad used to be and put the other probe where you think the trace originates -- in many cases, it could trace to multiple locations (any of which you can connect to, but the way). When you've found the origin, your meter will beep at you to let you know there is continuity between the probes. If your meter doesn't beep, you simply need to probe another spot. And once you've found the right spot, you just solder one end of a wire to that point. It doesn't matter if that point is a thru-hole in the PCB or a pin on an IC. Just solder one end of the wire there. Then solder the other end of the wire to the appropriate leg of your capacitor, making sure you get the polarity right. Do the same for connecting the other wire and you're done!

That's it!

I knew a few things about soldering, and I know a few more things now.

The first capacitor I replaced took about 30 minutes for me to do, in order to figure everything out and get the process down. I knew basic stuff like, heat up the metal (solder), etc. and I pretty much just figured it out. Now it takes 5 or 10 minutes to do a capacitor. I knew what iron to buy (a 15 watt one with a smaller tip, which is more suitable for these things) and some stuff like that.

Solder does not seem to affix to plastic. There is no metal left on the board for this particular capacitor except for what's inside of the little holes. Any solder I put there falls off because it does not affix to anything.

The pads broke because I removed the capacitor too aggressively. I cannot seem to remove them by simply heating up the pads because most of the pad is under this plastic stuff, so I have been rocking the capacitor back and forth gently until it breaks off, and then I remove the little metal bits it left behind from the little globs of solder.