Repairing a broken ribbon cable.
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 11:04 pm
Or more appropriately,
"Oh FRIG!!!! How in blue blazes did that happen?!?!?!"
Sure enough, as careful as we are, we will eventually have a momentary lapse of attention that damages something, In this case, the Trackpoint cable on an i-Series.
The weird thing is that I had removed the keyboard and was free and clear of the base. As I turned to put it on the desk behind my work area, it snagged between a roll of solder I have on the shelf beside me and the shelf. One in a million shot. But, that's my luck sometimes.
Anyway, I need to repair this and find a decent replacement.
My methodology was based on another post I read from a long time ago, and I took pictures while I worked. If I can do this with what I have on hand, Any decent solderer can do it.
My apologies for poor photography. I have the Kodak Fun-Saver of the digital world that does not have macro capabilities.
First, preparation. I sanded off the ends (top side only) of the polyamide covering to expose the traces. a few inches of my 3" wide electrical tape to protect the bottom of the keyboard, two pieces of polyamide from a donor assembly precut and double sticky taped, a slightly modified solder iron, My T21 playing Nickle Creek, and I'm ready.
Sure enough, it's broken
I positioned the cable on top of the patch baseto match up the ends as closely as possible.
I don't own a microscope, but I have a fold up magnifier that works pretty well. I taped the magnifier over the ribbon cable and securely held the ribbon cable in place. I had some 30Ga. stranded wire on hand, so I stripped and tinned a few of the strands to join the ends of the break. My setup looked like this.
Everything in place, I tinned the ends of the traces.
Starting from the outermost trace, I soldered the top end of the wire into place, then formed the wire to match the curvature required for the mating trace. As I was getting done with trace #3, I needed a break so I took this picture. The bottom was not yet trimmed.
After about 45 minutes of work, all traces repaired. Prior to adhering the top pf the patch, I used my finest pick and tweezers to bend the tips of the wires to prevent shorting to adjacent conductors. If you do this patch, remember to hold the wire down at the solder joint. Unwanted flexing will degrade the solder joint.
Top piece applied, and I'm done.
At the time of this posting, I have not yet tested the patch. The laptop needs to have the OS installed, and that comes tomorrow.
Joe
P. S. to Mods: If there is a better place for this post, feel free to move it.
"Oh FRIG!!!! How in blue blazes did that happen?!?!?!"
Sure enough, as careful as we are, we will eventually have a momentary lapse of attention that damages something, In this case, the Trackpoint cable on an i-Series.
The weird thing is that I had removed the keyboard and was free and clear of the base. As I turned to put it on the desk behind my work area, it snagged between a roll of solder I have on the shelf beside me and the shelf. One in a million shot. But, that's my luck sometimes.
Anyway, I need to repair this and find a decent replacement.
My methodology was based on another post I read from a long time ago, and I took pictures while I worked. If I can do this with what I have on hand, Any decent solderer can do it.
My apologies for poor photography. I have the Kodak Fun-Saver of the digital world that does not have macro capabilities.
First, preparation. I sanded off the ends (top side only) of the polyamide covering to expose the traces. a few inches of my 3" wide electrical tape to protect the bottom of the keyboard, two pieces of polyamide from a donor assembly precut and double sticky taped, a slightly modified solder iron, My T21 playing Nickle Creek, and I'm ready.
Sure enough, it's broken
I positioned the cable on top of the patch baseto match up the ends as closely as possible.
I don't own a microscope, but I have a fold up magnifier that works pretty well. I taped the magnifier over the ribbon cable and securely held the ribbon cable in place. I had some 30Ga. stranded wire on hand, so I stripped and tinned a few of the strands to join the ends of the break. My setup looked like this.
Everything in place, I tinned the ends of the traces.
Starting from the outermost trace, I soldered the top end of the wire into place, then formed the wire to match the curvature required for the mating trace. As I was getting done with trace #3, I needed a break so I took this picture. The bottom was not yet trimmed.
After about 45 minutes of work, all traces repaired. Prior to adhering the top pf the patch, I used my finest pick and tweezers to bend the tips of the wires to prevent shorting to adjacent conductors. If you do this patch, remember to hold the wire down at the solder joint. Unwanted flexing will degrade the solder joint.
Top piece applied, and I'm done.
At the time of this posting, I have not yet tested the patch. The laptop needs to have the OS installed, and that comes tomorrow.
Joe
P. S. to Mods: If there is a better place for this post, feel free to move it.
