RIP my beloved Supergrafx

[blueraven]

Found !



Looks like I got some chirurgical soldering to do 

The crack goes far under the HUcard slot, but only the traces from the huC6202 VPC are cut, those below seems OK as far as I could test them. Hope I'm right because I really don't want to unsolder the slot.

That was going to be my next comment; please post photos of the board.

I wish you the best of luck in bridging the traces, I have some similar work to do on a unit of mine. Keep us updated on your progress.

[mickcris]

Mine had a crack there and 2 other places. You may end up having to remove the slot. I had to remove mine as the crack went the whole way up the left side. Can't really tell from your pic where yours is as it's pretty low resolution. I posted a couple pics of my board here:
http://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/index.php?topic=16172.msg399144#msg399144

edit: i clicked on your pic and can see its high res.  wasn't working on my phone for some reason.  but im thinking the crack probably extends to where the screw was holding the slot in place so hopefully there are no traces in between.  I cant remember exactly what it looks like under the slot.

[CatPix]

This doesn't make me wanting to get a Supergrafx. I don't have the habit of slamming my systems down, and I have a Colecovision and a Bally Astrocade - I know what a flaky system is - but this doesn't feel like it's so worth the cost and pain

Good luck for fixing your system anyway!

[wilykat]

I don't know how much gap there is under the slot but a good camera with macro setting should be able to take picture then you could blow up the image on the computer to see where and how far the crack goes.

[deubeul]

I don't know how much gap there is under the slot but a good camera with macro setting should be able to take picture then you could blow up the image on the computer to see where and how far the crack goes.

I goes further than I hoped... or let's rather say that the crack is worse than I hoped.

First step of soldering this morning, before I had to go to work:

(I'm ashamed of posting that pic, as it looks dirty because of my shitty wires which starts to melt at 1inch from the soldering iron :oops:)(and no, there's no short  )





Anyway, things get better:







Tomorrow I'll work on the other cut traces under the slot, and post the results soon after.

[esadajr]

it's alive!

[mickcris]

it doesn't look that bad.
also, i would not leave any wires under the plastic side piece of the slot.  there was one trace on mine that i had to find an alternative spot on the other side of the board cause the slot kept knocking my solder joint lose.  I think the case pushes that flat against the board.

[wilykat]

You are using variable temp iron?  When wire melt, it may be too hot.  For most soldering work I usually do 325C although with those tiny SMD pins, maybe try 310? To avoid burning up the tiny traces.

[Vimtoman]

Use Hook up wire its soldering proof but you need a special  stripper.

[deubeul]

Guess who's back ?? 





My soldering iron doesn't have variable temp, I was too lazy to drive to the shop to buy better wire, but it did the job anyway. And without removing the slot!

Image of the final operation (minus the goo):





And my happy convalescent SgX:





Thanks to all of you for the good advices , the support, and the good jokes!

My SgX and my marriage are saved 

[Necromancer]

Well done.  The bandaids are a nice touch. 

[johnnykonami]

Guess who's back ?? 

My SgX and my marriage are saved 

Nice work resurrecting it!

[wilykat]

Nice!  So what can be done to prevent this? It sounds like SFX is assembled a little tight or too loose and is prone to cracking if dropped.

[blueraven]

hahhahahahHHAHAHAHA!!! 

Fantastic!!!

Awesome job with the repair and glad to see you're back on the road! 

[RyuHayabusa]

Good job saving the SGX.