Repairing broken traces on a circuit board

Broken traces are quite common, especially on vintage computers where corrosion has set in. Here are a few helpful tips for providing strong, long-lasting repairs for broken traces.

#soldering #electronics #tutorial

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[jefemuga]

I don't even work on boards and have never touched a soldering iron but here I am watching and learning. thanks.

[claytonwalvoort]

You just helped me repair a trace on my water heater’s thermostat circuit board. Thanks to you I was able to take a hot shower! Thanks a million!

[jeffbanfieldsflwr]

I'm a self taught soldering freak. Thank you for making these videos.

[cbmeeks]

BTW, I really like how you teach professional methods for repairing these boards. I really get annoyed at certain YouTuber's who take the pliers to caps without even bothering to see if hot air would work. Then gloss over them with nail polish. Your methods just seem more professional. Hell, it's almost like you actually CARE about the end results. :-)

[rainbowbrightmuffin]

This was amazing and such a big help!!! It might sound silly but the motherboard of my tamagotchi was messed up and thanks to your video I was able to perform a total miracle! 🤯🤩🥳 Thank you for this

[substandardabuse]

In 23 minutes and 49 seconds you have shown me why I’ve always struggled repairing a pcb and most times cracking the shits and throwing the device away out of frustration. Thank you so much.

[SKDGGY]

Today was the day I decided I wanted to learn more about board repairs. Thank you for sharing the knowledge. This looks pretty peaceful if one has all the right gear, supplies and patience.

[heritageroofer]

Thank you so much! Your video has enough detailed information and shows all the steps yet is concise!

Last night I blew a trace on an expensive piece of equipment by accidentally connecting it in reverse polarity.

Your video undid my mistake and she works just fine now!

It’s guys like you that make YouTube great!

[christianurgese]

Standing ovation. One of the clearest soldering i have ever seen.

[xslimx]

My father just sent me an old trace repair kit from the 80s, it is awesome! Thousands of various sized "trace materials" I can cut to size. This is gonna make this so much easier!

[chrisdorr]

Fantastic and thorough breakdown of an intimidating piece of repair! Many thanks.

[neomustafi]

You sir are a legend, your voice is so calmed and your explanatory skills are amazing, i wish my school teachers would be half as good as you on explaining things.

Thank you so much it really helped me to repair a broken trace on My Mitsubishi Colt Ecu.

The world needs more people like you Sir.
God bless you and best of luck

[realstevef]

Well done, I finally found someone who does repairs like I do!

[martinamor]

I have a samsung aircon remote control with the smallest copper tracks you ever did see. I purchased the strongest reading glasses I could buy and they certainly magnified enough for me to do the job. I am normally ik doing these types of jobs but your video was so brilliant that it made my task run so smoothly. If I can impart some helpful hints, theys are: The board in the damaged tracks were corroded and bluish green corrosion product over the tracks. Possibly copper Chloride. I successfully removed this with a fine stiff paintbrush agitating CilitBang (citric acid) on the area and leaving it for 20mins. Then washed it off with water and dabs of tissue. The other tip I used was as the break in the tracks were so small, I shone a torch light from the otherside of the board and then the broken track could easily be observed.. Thankyou once again for such a down to earth and well informed video, you are quite a star.

[labnine]

Outstanding. You have the patience of a saint! I thought my job was tedious (doing 3D Cad routing for automotive) but yours definitely tops it.

[dannycivic]

What a great instructional video this is what most people look for. Makes a change from the condescending videos that are all over YouTube where they basically put you off attempting any repair yourself, how can you ever learn by doing that and who wants to risk shipping expensive irreplaceable electronic parts like Amiga motherboards etc.

[MichaelAStanhope]

Awesome tutorial. Thanks for this. Its always nice to see how its done through the scope. Now to get a scope...

[JerryEricsson]

Thanks, it seems that contrary to popular belief, you can indeed teach common sense. I have been working on old electronics for much of my adult life, and several years of my youth. Growing up in the 50's and seeing the transformation from tubes to transistors has been a pleasure, and IC's have always amazed me. The use of fine tipped soldering irons has become a necessity now with the fine PC boards and tiny leads of the ever smaller devices now used in modern builds. This was very enlightening for me, I recently purchased an old 1958 model tube set with an early PC board. A previous owner had repaired the bad ground by stripping a stranded power cord and soldering it around the outside to repair the many broken traces from some liquid spill back in the day. I have yet to revive the set but this video should help me in restoring the old set to it's previous glory.

[pentachronic]

This is pretty common during R&D. If you are doing repair you should cover with soldermask or conformal coating after a good clean to stop the oxidation/corrosion getting worse. It's often a good idea to re-tin traces showing corrosion.

[Drunkmanatee]

Excellent description of tools, procedure, and technique. Well done sir.