Broken Trace Repair Hacks Every Beginner Should Know - Sega Master System - Retro Restoration

Following the format of my previous "behind the scenes" video, this week I bring you guys along for a Sega Master System repair. Another jewel purchased "not working" from eBay, and put my soldering skills to the test.

In keeping true with the "behind the scenes" format, his video is unscripted and minimally edited. I hope to continue to set better expectations for folks thinking of taking on repairs like these, and share some tips and practices that I have found to be useful.

In this particular video, I repair a bunch of broken traces using nothing but individual strands from stranded wire. I also use regular nail polish as a poor-man's version of solder resist. Both these "hacks" do a fantastic job in replacing conventional materials for such a job such as kynar wire and solder mask.

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[InMyHead]

Awesome repair. You have the patience of a saint. Your soldering has gotten so much better since you started. I can really see the confidence you have now as you develop that muscle memory. Great job. It always feels good to fix something!

[fenriswolfretro]

Ah yes, gotta love the sight of broken traces from mechanical fatigue! In all seriousness, I can see this problem being both time consuming and annoying to deal with. So well done!

[TwinOpinion]

I've never seen a repair job quite like this. Patience wins the day! Glad that system didn't end up in a garbage dump. Great work.

[emmettturner]

Pretty sure the factory soldered the cartridge connector when it wasn’t fully inserted through the through holes. This meant there was a gap between the connector housing and the top of the PCB. Inserting a game would push the connector down, stressing the solder connections and traces until they finally gave. Suddenly the gap was gone, but the traces were ruined. :(

[ewrooney]

I sent you an email a while back thanking you for spreading knowledge like this. Its far more inspiring and far more helpful to have that dialog during the video and than videos where it’s just 3x speed with no guidance. It’s cool if that what someone likes but that’s just “repair porn” to me. You fucking rock man, and thanks again for the content.

[claimhsolais]

It's so nice to see a gentleman doing repairs, by maintaining an outstanding mix of proper humor with proper language and arguments. Congratulations!

[Lookoutmedia]

Watching you repair those traces was like art. Talk about impressive work.

[andreschiriff]

This is the most work extensive repair I have seen you do I am very impressed with your patience. And I'm shocked that this happened to this Master system they are very good consoles that last for a very long time I'm pretty sure somebody drop it a few times

[davidbrosky]

This was a terrific tutorial. A great learning experience having worked with repairing traces before. You are very thorough, logical and organized. Honestly I was cheering you on every step of the way and thrilled that it worked! Superb video and congrats!

[amyorramonperalta]

The precision with which you soldered those jumper wires was like watching a surgeon. I am in awe! Fantastic work!

[FixerUK]

I literally said "that brings back memories" seconds before you said exactly the same. As I remember Bubble Bobble on the Master System was one of the better conversions due to all the extra levels. Oh the amount of hours and late nights doing two player and trying to find all the secrets in it was probably the most me and my wife ever put into one game together. I even made my own controller for it from an old speaker enclosure and parts from an old broken Jump Bug cocktail arcade machine.

[snowman]

Great job, great to see a lovely old Master System saved. This was my first console, it has a lot of great RPG's, arcade conversions, and Alex Kidd of course.

[exidy-yt]

Nice work! I was wondering what on earth the previous owner had done to the machine to break all those traces, but someone very nicely explained what probably happened due to a factory error that broke over time. It was great to see you doing that extensive patch-wire work, hopefully I learned something for the future. Thank you for sharing!

[jcchaconjr]

Wow, that must have been tedious! I happen to have a Master System in my possession that has this same symptom. I never got around to diagnosing it, but I have a feeling that you may have just done it for me, hehe.

Looking at the tear down, this may also explain why Genesis consoles have a small plastic brace underneath the cart slot and held by the cartridge screws. I’m gonna guess that over time, the pressure of inserting cartridges flexed the board and damaged the traces over time. Looks like Sega may have been aware of this and learned from their mistake for the Genesis. Great video man!

[MetalGateDragon]

God, I love how there are people like you that take the time to repair all these consoles. You're doing an awesome job. Loved the video.

[hiredgun]

man, i always thought myself good with a soldering iron, but cripes your solder skills are out of this world, hats off to you

[eddietowers]

This is what I was looking for. This is the best clean lined trace repairs I’ve seen, yet. Here on YouTube.

[shezzor]

"I know the Master System wasn't a very popular system", I think you need to caveat that with "in the US" as it was very popular in the EU and Brazil :) That said, excellent job on the repair. Great to see another classic console live on!

[jdsgotninelives]

That game brings back memories. I was broke so had to hire a Sega console from the video store. This game was/is addictive. Great repair and soldering skills. Classic! Thanks 😉

[diaboloavocado]

That amount of traces to repair is a real pain in the rear, so it must have been very rewarding to have the work pay off.

I do like that bent tip on the iron too. Good job, mate.