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Started By
Message
anyone do PCB repair?
Posted on 1/29/17 at 10:12 pm
Posted on 1/29/17 at 10:12 pm
I'm in the appliance trade and printed circuit boards are the norm now. Yet they are so expensive for the customer. I do get a mark-up on them, but I hate hate charging for a $300 board when a relay is all that is wrong.
So I have been teaching myself basic PCB repair.
I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for resources and specialty tools. (I have four different soldering irons and one gun, two of the irons are adjustable)
I can solder well but I don't have things like heatsinks or on board relay testers.
Generally when a board is bad it is 80% of the time a relay 15% a capacitor and 4% the contact pad and 1% other.
What spurred me to really start getting into this, is I had a customer friday. She is in a nice house, nice fridge, i didn't flinch when I gave her the $400 estimate. ($65 less than Bluebook) She brok out in tears. Mother dying of cancer, husband had recently died in a military accident. I felt so bad. I sat there working on her kitchen counter, testing the relays until I found a bad one. Went to my van, grabbed a hold board: I hold all exchanged control boards for 30 days, in case a customer has an issue requiring me to return their money and the new board for credit, then I have to give old board (there is a core charge of $60 on each one). I took a matching relay off the hold board, swapped it with her bad relay and voila her board worked. I charged her pure labor and saved her hundreds.
I actually make more this way and I wouldn't mind trying to be the local guy that does this service. As I like most other companies send boards off to Illinois or California for repair if i can't buy new. (most boards for machines made before 2003 can't be found)
So again. looking for a point to resources, guides, online classes. I feel strong I can do it now, but I like extended personal training because you learn better from multiple people in similar fields.
So I have been teaching myself basic PCB repair.
I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for resources and specialty tools. (I have four different soldering irons and one gun, two of the irons are adjustable)
I can solder well but I don't have things like heatsinks or on board relay testers.
Generally when a board is bad it is 80% of the time a relay 15% a capacitor and 4% the contact pad and 1% other.
What spurred me to really start getting into this, is I had a customer friday. She is in a nice house, nice fridge, i didn't flinch when I gave her the $400 estimate. ($65 less than Bluebook) She brok out in tears. Mother dying of cancer, husband had recently died in a military accident. I felt so bad. I sat there working on her kitchen counter, testing the relays until I found a bad one. Went to my van, grabbed a hold board: I hold all exchanged control boards for 30 days, in case a customer has an issue requiring me to return their money and the new board for credit, then I have to give old board (there is a core charge of $60 on each one). I took a matching relay off the hold board, swapped it with her bad relay and voila her board worked. I charged her pure labor and saved her hundreds.
I actually make more this way and I wouldn't mind trying to be the local guy that does this service. As I like most other companies send boards off to Illinois or California for repair if i can't buy new. (most boards for machines made before 2003 can't be found)
So again. looking for a point to resources, guides, online classes. I feel strong I can do it now, but I like extended personal training because you learn better from multiple people in similar fields.
Posted on 1/29/17 at 10:58 pm to Napoleon
Honestly, you are a true American hero
Posted on 1/29/17 at 11:21 pm to Napoleon
I do...I work on them for my Lionel trains and my audio gear. I am also currently building a power amp from scratch.
I can replace caps, resistors, relays, tube sockets and such, and have soldering irons, torches, and a couple multimeters.
I know enough to get my stuff repaired and working again.
I can replace caps, resistors, relays, tube sockets and such, and have soldering irons, torches, and a couple multimeters.
I know enough to get my stuff repaired and working again.
Posted on 1/30/17 at 7:25 am to Napoleon
I know enough to get me in trouble. Enough to fix my own stuff, but not confident enough to fix someone else's.
Learned a ton of troubleshooting in the military, but there we transitioned to card replacement. So kind of did a memory dump, because half the work was gone.
Learned a ton of troubleshooting in the military, but there we transitioned to card replacement. So kind of did a memory dump, because half the work was gone.
Posted on 1/30/17 at 6:39 pm to Napoleon
Cheap-arse ^h^h^h frugal radio station owners require us to keep 50 year old junk running "just one more time", so PCB repair skills are a must.
A vacuum desoldering station like this bad boy will make your work E-Z. Pro-tip: find one with a foot-switch for the vacuum pump.
A vacuum desoldering station like this bad boy will make your work E-Z. Pro-tip: find one with a foot-switch for the vacuum pump.
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