The Ugly File: Lying liars and the messes they make.

[vibroverbus]

Originally Posted by oneinchside

don't want to hi-jack this one, but how do you keep from being "that guy"? Burning traces, solder-blobiness, etc.

Basically just Give-A-Sh!7 is what it comes down to most, and I think is what the biggest gaps with the hacks seems to be. I've gotten stuff looking almost that bad from guys who have been slinging solder for years, they just never bothered to figure it out or care.

There's loads of 'how to solder' sites on the web... few keys to it like the importance of CLEAN the RIGHT TEMP AND TIMING (neither too hot nor too cold) and accordingly good equipment comes into it (temp controlled makes things SO much easier). I'm sure I'm no 'uber-master' myself but I always strive to have my joints look as good or better than the factory at least... If I get a joint that doesn't, I'll clean it up and start over...

What this guy did wrong? Well if you WANTED to make a mess like this, you'd follow these tips:

• Don't give it a good inspection before starting - for instance especially don't clean up the slag from burned traces from original failure before re-soldering, and definitely don't look at anything other than the big burned part that obviously caught fire - you'll just be creating more work for yourself if you start getting fussy!
• Don't clean the old component leads either, that would take time! OK but it might make stuff hard to flow so...
• Just blob the hell out of everythign with solder when it isn't flowing well. More is BETTER! Start melting the solder first - don't preheat the joint, just melt some solder down on 'em, that'll work! When that doesn't work...
• Just keep heating the stuff up! Maybe sooner or later it'll flow!
• Only solder the joints for the parts you're replacing. Definitely don't bother looking for other component joints that might have been burned up by the failure or your bad soldering technique. As long as the parts not falling off the board, it's probably OK!
• Don't bother to give a detailed inspection afterwards - if it's ugly just chop some globs off with cutters. It'll probably work! Close enough I say! Hey it's only KILOVOLT supply for a CRT flowing in this circuit... that much juice will just power through a bad connection I'm sure! The more power the less important the details are!

[dkelley]

Originally Posted by MAXZ28

Hey, that looks like my solder jobs....

same here ;-)

[dkelley]

Originally Posted by CallMeJoe

There is a flip side to this phenomenon. I acquired an HK795i dirt cheap off eBay because it was one of those "right channel just stopped working" deals. Five minutes of circuit tracing led me to a balance pot with one leg reading 85 Kohms; a quick shot of FaderLube, and it's been golden ever since!

yes. That's how I get a lot of my older nice gear for free. giveaways from local craigslisters saying "right channel is dead (or distorted)".

Basically I'm pretty honest with them but I don't volunteer that they should buy spray for a few bucks and try cleaning the pots. Most of these people wouldn't have the time/skill/inclination/desire to fix their gear anyway.

I got my c-70 preamp for free because of major issues with it's left channel. I fixed the major issues (those famous relays/powered slider switches). Still occasional dirty contacts when switching inputs, but nothing I can't live with. I'll open it up on wednesday and see if I can fix up those final little flaws.

Lots of time taken on it - so my time is worth money I feel, and the person giving it away was fully aware that it could be repaired by someone technical and gave it to me because he felt I was the guy to work on it and appreciate it.

[oneinchside]

Originally Posted by vibroverbus

Basically just Give-A-Sh!7 is what it comes down to most, and I think is what the biggest gaps with the hacks seems to be. I've gotten stuff looking almost that bad from guys who have been slinging solder for years, they just never bothered to figure it out or care.

There's loads of 'how to solder' sites on the web... few keys to it like the importance of CLEAN the RIGHT TEMP AND TIMING (neither too hot nor too cold) and accordingly good equipment comes into it (temp controlled makes things SO much easier). I'm sure I'm no 'uber-master' myself but I always strive to have my joints look as good or better than the factory at least... If I get a joint that doesn't, I'll clean it up and start over...

What this guy did wrong? Well if you WANTED to make a mess like this, you'd follow these tips:

• Don't give it a good inspection before starting - for instance especially don't clean up the slag from burned traces from original failure before re-soldering, and definitely don't look at anything other than the big burned part that obviously caught fire - you'll just be creating more work for yourself if you start getting fussy!
• Don't clean the old component leads either, that would take time! OK but it might make stuff hard to flow so...
• Just blob the hell out of everythign with solder when it isn't flowing well. More is BETTER! Start melting the solder first - don't preheat the joint, just melt some solder down on 'em, that'll work! When that doesn't work...
• Just keep heating the stuff up! Maybe sooner or later it'll flow!
• Only solder the joints for the parts you're replacing. Definitely don't bother looking for other component joints that might have been burned up by the failure or your bad soldering technique. As long as the parts not falling off the board, it's probably OK!
• Don't bother to give a detailed inspection afterwards - if it's ugly just chop some globs off with cutters. It'll probably work! Close enough I say! Hey it's only KILOVOLT supply for a CRT flowing in this circuit... that much juice will just power through a bad connection I'm sure! The more power the less important the details are!

I think "the right temp" is the part that I haven't gotten yet... and it looks like you have to plunk down $40-$100 to get that control.

*sigh*
another thing to save up for.
or maybe this plus a 30w iron:http://www.instructables.com/id/10is...on_Controller/

[Fisherdude]

We'll be waiting for the "After" pics so we can do a group evaluation of your skilz.

[vibroverbus]

Originally Posted by Fisherdude

We'll be waiting for the "After" pics so we can do a group evaluation of your skilz.

[vibroverbus]

Originally Posted by oneinchside

I think "the right temp" is the part that I haven't gotten yet... and it looks like you have to plunk down $40-$100 to get that control.

Yeah but no. Sorry.

I'd post a link to super cheap built-in rheostat irons that would be better than going to the trouble to build that box, but essentially now you can get a temp controlled iron for under $50.

While a rheostat control is better than nuffink (that's what I used for years) REAL temp control has feedback from the tip temperature and allows re-calibration to be done from time to time... once you have it you can't believe how betterer is is.


http://store.sra-solder.com/product.php/6144/22

http://store.sra-solder.com/product.php/6145/22

No relation to the seller by the way, these are available elsewhere as well... just an example of what is available now.

No these aren't Weller or Hakko grade but I believe are older/lower Hakko models that were discontinued and the tooling/design is now being sold under cheapo brands. Perfectly excellent for hobbyist or light commercial work. I've posted a review a few months ago on the dual rework station with desoldering tool. Some of the consumables are a bit cheapo, but all the parts are 100% Hakko compatible so I've ordered for instance de-soldering tips, springs, filters all from Hakko and use those instead of what came with it.

Just like Fluke DMM's, Weller fanboys will come out and say you must have only the approved and official Weller Solderus Maximus Model X9000Z, but here in the real world, for a hobbyist who will never plunk that kind of dough, one of these is a thousand times better than what they'll probably do otherwise: spend $20-40 on a non-temp controlled dumb hot stick.

[oneinchside]

Yeah but no. Sorry.

I'd post a link to super cheap built-in rheostat irons that would be better than going to the trouble to build that box, but essentially now you can get a temp controlled iron for under $50.

While a rheostat control is better than nuffink (that's what I used for years) REAL temp control has feedback from the tip temperature and allows re-calibration to be done from time to time... once you have it you can't believe how betterer is is.

ok, so rather than blow $25 on a "dumb hot stick" and $10 building a rheostat, $40 sounds like a better idea, esp. if they re-calibrate according to tip temp.

This folks is why the interwebs be such a glorious thing. danke.



oh- and thanks for the links too

[vibroverbus]

Update:

Looks like we found the problem that the PO didn't (or ignored...) classic torched emitter & collector resistors... He obviously just replaced the most burned BJT without fixing these... Also suspect there might be another bad BJT that he ignored because it wasn't actually on fire... more testing to be done...

How do you MISS this!??

[SweetDoug]

What type of soldering gun/unit do you fellas use for this stuff?

Doug

[vibroverbus]

Originally Posted by SweetDoug

What type of soldering gun/unit do you fellas use for this stuff?

Doug

See my review of Aoyue rework station...
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=243981

Since then I've been entirely happy, although the Hakko consumables (as mentioned) are better quality than the Aoyue original stuff...

[gyrene]

You are supposed to clean up flux?

[gyrene]

"because it wasn't actually on fire... "
Great line right there!

[vibroverbus]

Originally Posted by gyrene

"because it wasn't actually on fire... "
Great line right there!

I was right by the way... one driving BJT of a stacked pair went bad and the driven one was the one with the visible meltdown. So he put it back together with only one of them replaced, and dint replace any of those resistors... then it goes right back into meltdown-mode when you power it up.

Amazingly the replaced one still tests good... maybe he was just not-retarded enough to realize something was still wrong and instead of leaving it on until more damage was done, must have shut it off and given up.

Naaaww... probably I'm giving him too much credit. More likely it went into runaway until it blew a fuse and that's when he gave up.

Have some of the parts for the fix but still waiting on a few more before I can get this puppy back on the bench... Can't wait till I have too look into why the horizontal sweep seems to be hinky... probably some other disaster i haven't noticed yet...