Dave, when doing this, My method is to put some flux on the pins before I try to lift the chip which makes it quite a bit easier to flow the solder to lift the chip, and depending on the board I will to use a regular iron to flow some low melt solder onto the pins before I try to hit it with the hot air. This allows me to lift a chip with FAR less heat required (Less risk to the board or any plastic bits nearby in case I am not precise with the hot air)
Solder braid tip: cut off pieces and hold with tweezers. This will allow it to heat up faster and wick better. Also, that IC package is much easier to solder back down with just an iron if you don't have paste. Line it up, tack down one corner, tack down the opposite corner, solder the rest.
Solder the first and last pin on each side, then use a normal iron and pull the blob from all the pins in one direction, the last pin will get the residue from this process and you can use the wick to clean, I made this a lot of times, and found this method usefull.
One thing that you can do when youre reflowing the solder to solder the chip back down is add a bit more flux. That way any oxides that might have formed when you were applying new solder to the cleaned pads will get burned off. For leaded solder it's probably not an issue, but some lead free solder can end up crusty and not make as good of a joint if you don't add some more flux during reflow.
If it works it works but I personally think it’s better to use some flux and preheat the board from below too so the pcb heats up more evenly and then the part doesn’t take that long to be removed when directly blasted with hot air. Also it helps to gently “rub” the part flat onto a piece of paper as a lapping pad to clean the legs if it has been seating for a long time to remove the oxide layer and get better bonding. I’d prefer to tack the new part and then solder each leg (or use drag soldering if enough flux). I always enjoy your videos nonetheless ❤
If you clean the board down to bare pads with solder wick, put the new chip on the bare pads so it's flat, and solder opposite corner pins. Then just go solder all the rest of the pins individually. Those pins are like a mile apart so it's easy to do, but even if they're closer, use flux and "drag soldering". Putting solder down, and then trying to balance the chip on the solder is probably the most difficult way to do it. I'd also crank up the temperature a little (or you need a higher wattage iron) when using the braid - it looks too cold. Definitely putting flux on the braid helps, but more heat will help even more.
Anytime I have a similar job where there's any prospect of having to change the chip again, I put a socket in place. May not be the case here but I work on a lot of 2-way radio equipment that occasionally get firmware updates.
You'd probably be better off using the drag technique to tie the pads after cleaning them properly. Lots of liquid flux, load up your tip with solder and slowly drag it over the pads.
Wow...the size of that cap. I do not want to be around that thing if someone installed it backwards. Honestly, you are probably better off just using solder wire and not paste. The paste is meant to be applied via a silk-screening method and while it can be manually applied by dabbing it onto the pads it's just easier to use wire.
These modern machines have some pretty robust diagnostics. There are board tests you can run, and then those will identify areas of the board or even individual chips to check. Many times they are failing CRC checks.
Oh dear.... no preheat, no aluminium tape to cover surrounding components, etc. When installing new component it would be much wiser to fix two leads opposite each other and then perform drag soldering instead of unnecessarily and uncontrollably heating up new IC with hot air in an effort to perform reflow.
In all fairness this is a 2 minute video so there is likely a lot happening off of camera he didn't show. He did preheat the component and even mentions it in the video. Lastly, in my experience his method works better than drag soldering and is the same method I use regularly without issue.
I agree it will work fine for tssop packages and similar. Will be more challenging for qfn but I doubt David's arcade machines have those. The biggest advantage of solder paste is that it comes premixed with flux and you can get low temperature paste which then just makes the whole job so much easier.
You look happier nowadays, BTW! 😉
The Super 8-Bit Brothers to the rescue! Let's-a-go!
Dave, when doing this, My method is to put some flux on the pins before I try to lift the chip which makes it quite a bit easier to flow the solder to lift the chip, and depending on the board I will to use a regular iron to flow some low melt solder onto the pins before I try to hit it with the hot air. This allows me to lift a chip with FAR less heat required (Less risk to the board or any plastic bits nearby in case I am not precise with the hot air)
These arcade videos make me so happy. Such a perfect match for your skill set.
Wow! I love how you guys make something that seems so difficult look very achievable with the right tools! I always wondered about this.
Again totally kicking it with the intro music ❤ I always get so happy when I hear the intro music for The 8-bit Guy and this intro is on par ✨
I wish these were longer 😢
Yep. Totally agree…
that's what she said
Solder braid tip: cut off pieces and hold with tweezers. This will allow it to heat up faster and wick better. Also, that IC package is much easier to solder back down with just an iron if you don't have paste. Line it up, tack down one corner, tack down the opposite corner, solder the rest.
I'm so ready for the Time rift.
Us too!!
I’m hoping to see a Megatouch repair sometime
It is a good idea to add fresh solder first with the soldering iron, then desolder using the wick :) Awesome video btw
Looks like there is a thru-hole alternative socket at IC12
I learned the hard way dont drag solder wick it will cut traces and damage them
This is one arcade machine I wish I own.
Great to see arcade related content! Nice repair here!
GREAT JOB!!!.. Next time show the fault first though makes for a more complete video 👍
Great video! The premium Chemtronics Soder-Wick has flux already in it but you pay for the convenience of not having to use your own flux.
What a cool system!
Solder the first and last pin on each side, then use a normal iron and pull the blob from all the pins in one direction, the last pin will get the residue from this process and you can use the wick to clean, I made this a lot of times, and found this method usefull.
One thing that you can do when youre reflowing the solder to solder the chip back down is add a bit more flux. That way any oxides that might have formed when you were applying new solder to the cleaned pads will get burned off.
For leaded solder it's probably not an issue, but some lead free solder can end up crusty and not make as good of a joint if you don't add some more flux during reflow.
If it works it works but I personally think it’s better to use some flux and preheat the board from below too so the pcb heats up more evenly and then the part doesn’t take that long to be removed when directly blasted with hot air. Also it helps to gently “rub” the part flat onto a piece of paper as a lapping pad to clean the legs if it has been seating for a long time to remove the oxide layer and get better bonding. I’d prefer to tack the new part and then solder each leg (or use drag soldering if enough flux). I always enjoy your videos nonetheless ❤
Some longer videos please
i ignored the video title and thought "mk" on the paper on the side of the board meant "mortal kombat" not "mario kart" lmao
Mortal Kombat is good too! :-)
Great fix😁
Cool vid!
All well and good, but holy cow, what is that ginormous capacitor for?
Probably for the steering wheel motor
David you shouldn't sit your Soda on the board like that, oh that is a CAP!
If you clean the board down to bare pads with solder wick, put the new chip on the bare pads so it's flat, and solder opposite corner pins. Then just go solder all the rest of the pins individually. Those pins are like a mile apart so it's easy to do, but even if they're closer, use flux and "drag soldering". Putting solder down, and then trying to balance the chip on the solder is probably the most difficult way to do it. I'd also crank up the temperature a little (or you need a higher wattage iron) when using the braid - it looks too cold. Definitely putting flux on the braid helps, but more heat will help even more.
That is a BIG capacitor. 🤐
That electrolytic capacitor is huuuuge.
Yeah I was wondering what it is used for.
When will GeekBits Podcast return?
I'd suggest emailing David about this on his website. :-)
Anytime I have a similar job where there's any prospect of having to change the chip again, I put a socket in place. May not be the case here but I work on a lot of 2-way radio equipment that occasionally get firmware updates.
Surface mount sockets are pretty hard to do without production level equipment.
@@TimeRiftArcade Perhaps the ones I've done are the exception (32 and 44 pin PLCC)...? Seemed fairly straightforward when I did them.
You'd probably be better off using the drag technique to tie the pads after cleaning them properly. Lots of liquid flux, load up your tip with solder and slowly drag it over the pads.
I think the board also suffers from a oversized cap... that thing was huge. No cap blaming, but man... 🙂
Wow...the size of that cap. I do not want to be around that thing if someone installed it backwards.
Honestly, you are probably better off just using solder wire and not paste. The paste is meant to be applied via a silk-screening method and while it can be manually applied by dabbing it onto the pads it's just easier to use wire.
What made you suspect the ROM chip was bad?
These modern machines have some pretty robust diagnostics. There are board tests you can run, and then those will identify areas of the board or even individual chips to check. Many times they are failing CRC checks.
What is under the sticker of the old ROM chip?
How much is the charge to repair the board??? 8 BITS!!! 🙂
Davis: suggestion. I'm confident you're aware but you can use handles in the description to reference someone, (eg. @The9BitGuy, etc.)
That is the fattest capacitor I've ever seen on a pcb.
Oh dear.... no preheat, no aluminium tape to cover surrounding components, etc. When installing new component it would be much wiser to fix two leads opposite each other and then perform drag soldering instead of unnecessarily and uncontrollably heating up new IC with hot air in an effort to perform reflow.
In all fairness this is a 2 minute video so there is likely a lot happening off of camera he didn't show. He did preheat the component and even mentions it in the video. Lastly, in my experience his method works better than drag soldering and is the same method I use regularly without issue.
I agree it will work fine for tssop packages and similar. Will be more challenging for qfn but I doubt David's arcade machines have those.
The biggest advantage of solder paste is that it comes premixed with flux and you can get low temperature paste which then just makes the whole job so much easier.
You're probably being overly critical here but I do agree that soldering the new chip by hand is probably easier than using hot air.