Welcome to Soldering & repairs
This board is for everything that involves a hot iron and a broken gadget: through-hole and surface-mount soldering, microsoldering, recapping old consoles and handhelds, replacing charge ports, fixing ribbon cables, reviving dead boards and learning the tools along the way. Beginners asking how to tin a tip are just as welcome as people reworking BGA chips.
What belongs here
• Soldering technique, irons, stations, tips, solder and flux
• Hot air rework, microsoldering and board-level repair
• Recaps, battery replacements, port swaps and shell repairs
• Diagnosing faults with a multimeter, and asking what a burnt component used to be
• Repair logs: before and after photos, what failed and how you fixed it
What goes elsewhere
• Installing modchips and console mods: Console modding
• Opening things up purely to see how they work: Teardowns & deep dives
• Dumping or modifying firmware: Firmware & reverse engineering
• Designing your own boards: Electronics & PCB design, over in Makers & DIY
How to ask for repair help
1. The device and its exact model or board revision
2. What happened before it broke, and what it does now
3. What you have already checked or replaced
4. Clear, well-lit photos of the board, with close-ups of the damaged area
5. Multimeter readings if you have them, and what you expected them to be
6. Your tools: iron or station, solder type and flux
Starter knowledge
• Temperature: many people start somewhere around 320 to 350 °C for leaded solder and a little hotter for lead-free, then adjust for the joint. Hotter is not always better; too much heat lifts pads and burns flux.
• Flux is your friend. Most bad joints are a flux problem, not a heat problem. Clean the residue off afterwards with isopropyl alcohol.
• Keep the tip tinned and clean it with brass wool. A dull grey tip will not transfer heat.
• Unplug the device and remove the battery before you start. Large capacitors in power supplies and old CRT gear can hold a dangerous charge long after unplugging.
• Mind static. Use an ESD mat or wrist strap when handling bare boards and chips.
• Note capacitor polarity and values before pulling old caps, and take photos as you go.
Safety is part of the rules
• Ventilate. Flux fumes are irritating, so use a fume extractor or a fan pulling fumes away from you towards an open window.
• Wear eye protection. Solder can spit and clipped leads fly.
• Wash your hands after handling leaded solder, and do not eat or drink at the bench.
• Treat lithium batteries with care: never puncture or bend them, retire any swollen cell, and charge on a non-flammable surface.
• Repairs inside mains-powered power supplies, televisions and appliances are best left to qualified people. If you are unsure, do not open it.
Threads that encourage unsafe shortcuts will be edited or closed.
Board rules
• Your own devices, legal and ethical only. Repairing, recapping and restoring is the point.
• Nothing piracy-friendly, and no malware or dodgy tools.
• No selling, no paid repair services and no touting for work. Ask for help, share knowledge, keep it free.
The usual house rules apply everywhere: be kind, English only (posts in other languages are translated automatically), no spam, no keyboard mashing and no self-promotion spam. If something looks wrong, use Report and a moderator will take a look. This thread is locked, so start your own thread if you have questions.
Dexter
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