When things go very bad

[Pelliott321]

I took on a simple repair job for a client. I had to replace a USB connector on a USB receiver board on a music server.
I did not take pics of the mangled connector befor I removed it. but here is the completed repair.

Attachments

[Pelliott321]

when I was putting things together and connecting a 12 connector cable to the other side of the board the socket just popped off.

here is a close up

[Pelliott321]

To me the pads look like cold solder joints.
Any way it was a pain getting this soldered back on

Instead of a 15 minute repair it was a 30 minute repair

Don't know if I will recover from this disaster today

[SoundMods]

when I was putting things together and connecting a 12 connector cable to the other side of the board the socket just popped off.

fix2.jpg

fix3.jpg

here is a close up

fix4.jpg

HOLY CRAP!!!! Cold solder joints all! Murphy's Law at work.

[tomp]

If anyone ever needs to repair a board with surface mount components I have a hot air re-flow station you can use.

[Pelliott321]

One does not need fancy equipment to do surface mount work

[DaveR]

One does not need fancy equipment to do surface mount work

No, but it sure helps make it much easier.

[tomp]

One does not need fancy equipment to do surface mount work

No, but it sure helps make it much easier.

Amen to that

[Pelliott321]

Part of my problem besides being _______(you an fill in the blank), is I really do not understand how the hot air thingy works or how to use one. I guess this is a good one for YouTube

[SoundMods]

Part of my problem besides being _______(you an fill in the blank), is I really do not understand how the hot air thingy works or how to use one. I guess this is a good one for YouTube

I don't envy your task -- I am imitated by surface-mount anything. Specialized equipment is required.

During manufacture -- the parts are loaded using robotics and then flow-soldered as a unit. Apparently, the device you are working on would have benefited by a hole-through version of the multi-pin connector. Looking at your photos it seems to me that you can clean the pads and connections of solder -- set the connector in place and hand solder each pad individually with a solder pencil.

I would wear a jewelers bi-optic magnifier to get a close look while working. I believe you can pull it off. Once you solder tack the first pin -- that will anchor the connector which will enable working on the rest of them. I think if you try to re-flow them as a group you may still end up with cold joints that will not be reliable.