UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum - View Single Post - Servicing PCBs compared with wired chassis

turretslug · 28th May 2014, 11:14 am

Very much concur with those thoughts. With the right tools, practice and good lighting, I found PCB work quick, rewarding and effective even with dense, DS boards. With care and a good post-scrub with one of the usual suspect cleaners, a repair could be pretty much invisible- I used to take a certain mischievous pride in being able to quickly change 28-40 pin ICs on through plated print and leave it on the edge of the bench so as to provoke the comment, "oh, you haven't got round to it, then?". There was something of a dogmatic divide with some as to whether braid or sucker was best but I found some jobs suited one best, some the other, at one point I even had the use of an expensive Pace desolder pump with paralleled foot/trigger switch. Luxury!

I'll concede that I was lucky in that I came to PCB work in the mid 'eighties when the art of PCB making was thoroughly mature, some older consumer stuff I've worked on was prone to lifting/bubbling without a quick but careful approach- it made me appreciate that it must have been a bit of a learning curve for those used to hard-wiring. As with any new technology, some thrive, others don't like it so much I guess.

28th May 2014, 11:14 am	#2
turretslug Dekatron Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Surrey, UK. Posts: 4,397	Re: Servicing PCBs compared with wired chassis Very much concur with those thoughts. With the right tools, practice and good lighting, I found PCB work quick, rewarding and effective even with dense, DS boards. With care and a good post-scrub with one of the usual suspect cleaners, a repair could be pretty much invisible- I used to take a certain mischievous pride in being able to quickly change 28-40 pin ICs on through plated print and leave it on the edge of the bench so as to provoke the comment, "oh, you haven't got round to it, then?". There was something of a dogmatic divide with some as to whether braid or sucker was best but I found some jobs suited one best, some the other, at one point I even had the use of an expensive Pace desolder pump with paralleled foot/trigger switch. Luxury! I'll concede that I was lucky in that I came to PCB work in the mid 'eighties when the art of PCB making was thoroughly mature, some older consumer stuff I've worked on was prone to lifting/bubbling without a quick but careful approach- it made me appreciate that it must have been a bit of a learning curve for those used to hard-wiring. As with any new technology, some thrive, others don't like it so much I guess.