Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Hi everyone,

Working on the Analog Chorus at the moment, my 5th build, and unfortunately while using desoldering braid I think I may have charred/damaged one of the pass-through holes on the PCB, and I can see a little bit of copper trace that pealed up leading into one side of the eyelet, the trace leading out from the eyelet is intact, but not sure if with the damaged eyelet if the solder is still going to make a connection to it.

I've attached pictures of what's going on and the eyelet is circled in blue on the BYOC diagram.

Really bummed, this is a first for me!

Relax--it's not a difficult repair. The traces on the PCB clearly show the connections that have to be made. Referring to the labeled PCB diagram shown below, that eyelet at the top of resistor R6 has to connect to the top leg of R8 and the inside leg of C4. So here's what you do:

1. Clean the solder off the lead of R6 coming through the damaged eyelet. You're going to need probably 1/8" or so of that protruding lead. If there's not enough lead to work with, replace R6 with a new 47K resistor.
2. Cut yourself two short (maybe 1/2" long, max) sections of wire and strip off 1/8" of insulation on both ends of each piece. With a small needle-nose pliers, bend a horseshoe shape into all of the stripped ends of these two pieces of wire, which I'll now refer to as "jumpers".
3. "Tack" solder one end of one jumper to the solder joint at the top of R8. You may need to add a bit of solder to the joint to get good adherence. Trim any excess wire sticking out from the joint, though this shouldn't be necessary if you bend that horseshoe properly.
4. Using the same technique, tack solder one end of the other jumper to the solder joint of that inside leg of C4 (assuming that it's now installed on the PCB).
5. Lastly, bend the other ends of both jumpers around and hook the horseshoe around the protruding lead of R6. You can crimp the wire ends in place so that they stay on the lead. Solder in place.

That should do the trick.

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

Thank you for the detailed reply! That doesn't seem too difficult. Would the jumper wires all get soldered to the joints on the underside of the board? And getting the leads for all jumper connections as far through their eyelets as possible to allow enough space for the horseshoes from the jumpers to get soldered to?

The trace between R6 and R8 I can see has been severed, but what if the eyelet is still forming a connection from R6 to C4? Would a 2nd connection via the jumper change the dynamics of the circuit at all?

Thanks again, really appreciate your help.

Yes.


Ideally, yes. But if the component has already been soldered in and the lead trimmed down to the joint, as seems to be the case with R8, just lay the horseshoe directly over the solder joint and "melt it in" to the joint with your well-tinned iron tip. Add a smidgen more solder, if necessary.


If you are sure that the trace to C4 is still intact and there's enough of the eyelet for the R6 lead to get a good solder connection to it, you could skip the 2nd jumper. But it won't hurt anything to have it there either way.

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

And an easy way to do that is to check continuity between the pad and the component(s) it leads to. It's the beeper thing on your multimeter

Pedal is up and working! Sounds great! Thank you again for the replies.

I tried my best with the jumper wire, it was so short it was tough to maintain the isolation tubing (it started to peel off near the stripped ends getting soldered), but in the end it's serving its purpose and isn't shorting out against any other components. I suppose in hindsight a carefully bent piece of wire clipping could also do the trick?

Also dug up the old multimeter to check for continuity before firing it up just to be sure everything was a go. This pedal sounds amazing!!!

Glad to hear it's working for you!

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

Yay!