You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.
The Feb 2025 Radioddity Giveaway Results are In! Click Here to see who won!

Reply to thread

Message

I came close to bricking my radio and think there should be a bit more detail up above.
First the solder bead on my radio did not rise up to where you could see it. It was below the small pieces of metal on each side. (I wore a pair of diopter 7 eye glasses from Amazon). I had an adjustable wattage soldering pen, with a very small conical tip, that I turned on low and laid on top of a very narrow piece of solder wick.

You could not tell it if worked because you really could not see the solder to start with.
I guess I could have put it back together at this point and tested, but I was not that smart. I used the solder wick about 3 times, when I noticed what I will call a heat glaze on some of the traces. Luckily it just wiped off.

I should have let it go for a day at this point but I am impulsive and wanted to get it done.

I noticed that the trace to the right that went to the surface mounted part. I figured that if I could cut this trace that it would be the same think as getting the solder out of the contacts. Only that it would no be reversible. I had a very sharp dental pick type tool that after 3 or 4 scrapes easily cut through the trace. ( I should have done it this way to start, seeing as how difficult it would be to remove the solder.)

When I looked closer I saw that I may had damage a trace that was very close and right below the one I wanted to cut. I held my breath and luckily everything so far seems to work.

***** In hindsight perhaps a tinned and very small solder tip with no solder wick would have lifted the minute amount of solder hidden between the 2 contacts. The directions go into no detail at all as if this were just a normal sized job. It wasn't. This is the smallest thing I have ever put a solder iron to by far. It would be nice if the directions went into more detail here for those of us that have not worked on things so small.

Then again with care perhaps scratching the trace is the way to go. Just be very careful of the one right next to it. You might even be able to repair the trace with a product called CircuitWriter

FWIW my RTsystems balked at writing the programming to the radio after resetting it. The trick is to read the data on the radio and then to send it the file that you want to write to the radio. I don't know why that is so, but it worked for me.

<blockquote data-quote="JoeInMissouri" data-source="post: 547573" data-attributes="member: 47028">I came close to bricking my radio and think there should be a bit more detail up above.First the solder bead on my radio did not rise up to where you could see it. It was below the small pieces of metal on each side. (I wore a pair of diopter 7 eye glasses from Amazon).&nbsp; I had an adjustable wattage soldering pen, with a very small conical tip, that I turned on low and laid on top of a very narrow piece of solder wick.You could not tell it if worked because you really could not see the solder to start with.I guess I could have put it back together at this point and tested, but I was not that smart. I used the solder wick about 3 times, when I noticed what I will call a heat glaze on some of the traces. Luckily it just wiped off.I should have let it go for a day at this point but I am impulsive and wanted to get it done.I noticed that the trace to the right that went to the surface mounted part.&nbsp; I figured that if I could cut this trace that it would be the same think as getting the solder out of the contacts. Only that it would no be reversible.&nbsp; I had a very sharp dental pick type tool that after 3 or 4 scrapes easily cut through the trace. ( I should have done it this way to start, seeing as how difficult it would be to remove the solder.) When I looked closer I saw that I may had damage a trace that was very close and right below the one I wanted to cut.&nbsp; I held my breath and luckily everything so far seems to work.***** In hindsight perhaps a tinned and very small solder tip with no&nbsp; solder wick would have lifted the minute amount of solder hidden between the 2 contacts.&nbsp; The directions go into no detail at all as if this were just a normal sized job.&nbsp;&nbsp; It wasn&#039;t.&nbsp; This is the smallest thing I have ever put a solder iron to by far. It would be nice if the directions went into more detail here for those of us that have not worked on things so small.Then again with care perhaps scratching the trace is the way to go. Just be very careful of the one right next to it. You might even be able to repair the trace with a product called&nbsp; CircuitWriterFWIW&nbsp; my RTsystems balked at writing the programming to the radio after resetting it. The trick is to read the data on the radio and then to send it the file that you want to write to the radio. I don&#039;t know why that is so, but it worked for me.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="JoeInMissouri, post: 547573, member: 47028"] I came close to bricking my radio and think there should be a bit more detail up above. First the solder bead on my radio did not rise up to where you could see it. It was below the small pieces of metal on each side. (I wore a pair of diopter 7 eye glasses from Amazon). I had an adjustable wattage soldering pen, with a very small conical tip, that I turned on low and laid on top of a very narrow piece of solder wick. You could not tell it if worked because you really could not see the solder to start with. I guess I could have put it back together at this point and tested, but I was not that smart. I used the solder wick about 3 times, when I noticed what I will call a heat glaze on some of the traces. Luckily it just wiped off. I should have let it go for a day at this point but I am impulsive and wanted to get it done. I noticed that the trace to the right that went to the surface mounted part. I figured that if I could cut this trace that it would be the same think as getting the solder out of the contacts. Only that it would no be reversible. I had a very sharp dental pick type tool that after 3 or 4 scrapes easily cut through the trace. ( I should have done it this way to start, seeing as how difficult it would be to remove the solder.) When I looked closer I saw that I may had damage a trace that was very close and right below the one I wanted to cut. I held my breath and luckily everything so far seems to work. ***** In hindsight perhaps a tinned and very small solder tip with no solder wick would have lifted the minute amount of solder hidden between the 2 contacts. The directions go into no detail at all as if this were just a normal sized job. It wasn't. This is the smallest thing I have ever put a solder iron to by far. It would be nice if the directions went into more detail here for those of us that have not worked on things so small. Then again with care perhaps scratching the trace is the way to go. Just be very careful of the one right next to it. You might even be able to repair the trace with a product called CircuitWriter FWIW my RTsystems balked at writing the programming to the radio after resetting it. The trick is to read the data on the radio and then to send it the file that you want to write to the radio. I don't know why that is so, but it worked for me. [/QUOTE]

Top Bottom