Broken connector pins and rust. I have questions! (Stargate project)

mitchschaft

Well-known member

Donor 2011
Joined
Nov 7, 2010
Messages
1,110
Reaction score
71
Location
Bartlett, Tennessee
Broken connector pins and rust. I have questions! (Stargate project)

Moving along with my Stargate scratch build/restoration, I've completed another step towards my goal. I finally gutted the dead cabinet and now it's ready for disassembly and measuring. Check out the empty carcass :D.

In the meantime, I have 2 questions. I have a few connector pins on the PCBs that look like they were broken or cut. Are these pins gone or are they not even supposed to be there? Check out the pics. The wiring harness is gone so I can't compare.

Also, you can see a LOT of rust. Do you have any recommendations for getting rid of this without replacing anything? There are lots of nuts, screws and bolts that I'd like to reuse. Namely, check out the PCB plate and how nasty it is.

Should I find a chemical to soak it in, then use a sander or dremel to get rid of anything left behind?
 

Attachments

  • DSC_0004 (Large).jpg
    DSC_0004 (Large).jpg
    94 KB · Views: 65
  • DSC_0003 (Large).jpg
    DSC_0003 (Large).jpg
    92.6 KB · Views: 59
  • DSC_0005 (Large).jpg
    DSC_0005 (Large).jpg
    100.3 KB · Views: 58
Moving along with my Stargate scratch build/restoration, I've completed another step towards my goal. I finally gutted the dead cabinet and now it's ready for disassembly and measuring. Check out the empty carcass :D.

In the meantime, I have 2 questions. I have a few connector pins on the PCBs that look like they were broken or cut. Are these pins gone or are they not even supposed to be there? Check out the pics. The wiring harness is gone so I can't compare.

Also, you can see a LOT of rust. Do you have any recommendations for getting rid of this without replacing anything? There are lots of nuts, screws and bolts that I'd like to reuse. Namely, check out the PCB plate and how nasty it is.

Should I find a chemical to soak it in, then use a sander or dremel to get rid of anything left behind?

hmm - got A FEW DOOR STOPS TO REPLACE THERE! (sorry for the caps)

sound board lhs connector missing pin - it is supposed to be there - it is the "key" you may find there is an insert in the mating plug to prevent plugging it into the wrong connector. if u need a new harness, talk to Dokert! just straighten up all the pins and give them a clean with a scotch brite scouring pad. ditto with the other set of pins.

pcb plate provides an overall ground for all the pcbs.
carefully dissassemble all the pcbs from the plate, give it a really good powered wire brushing to remove the rust, use some anti rust stuff, clean and wire brush again to a nice polish. if the rust has loosened any individual post, you should try soldering the post to the base plate (on the pcb side), otherwise you may need a new standoff and screw it to the plate with a countersunk screw from the other side. you may need to run a thread tap (plug tap type) in the standoff threads (u need the check the correct thread type first or ask someone to do it for you) to get screws to run cleanly in the threads.
once it is nice and polished and any loose posts secured/fixed then seal both sides (rusted/wire brushed areas) with a clear coat to stop re-rusting.

then wire brush the tops of the standoffs to so that u get a new clean finish ready for remounting the pcbs; double check u have good (low resistance) connectivity between all standoff tops and the metal plate itself (to the good non-rusted areas) or scratch away a little of the coating first.

OR ask around - someone usually has a williams defender/stargate mounting plate spare!

i believe bobroberts should have some replacement screws of suita ble type (cant remember the thread size/type - yellowdog told me once long time ago)

dont forget to cleanup/polish the metal plates too for the power supply etc and all other metal areas where there are earthing wires attached to ensure good electrical connectivity.

and reflow all solder joints for the wiring loom connectors on all boards and clean up all pins on the headers.

and before you re-power the main game board, discoonnect the main game board from the power supply and checkout the power supply voltages. check and fix if not in spec as per defender/stargate theory of operation manuals.

keep up the pics with the restoration!
 
Thanks, I thought I was in big trouble with missing pins. I didn't notice 'til I took those pics that they look like they're supposed to be missing.

I wonder if a bottle of CLR will help with the rust removal. I guess I'll grab some of that and a BIG wire brush since all I have is a small one. Or find a wire brush attachment for the dremel. http://www.jelmar.com/CLRbasic.htm

http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?partNumber=323649-16878-323649&langId=-1&storeId=10151&productId

What kind of clearcoat do you recommend?
 
Last edited:
It's a good idea to replace all of the connectors anyways. The replacement male headers usually have the square pins, which make for a little bit more surface/contact area. If you replace one connector/header, always replace the counterpart. On my Stargate, I ended up replacing all of the IDC female connectors with new molex housings and crimped pins, and the headers on the board with new. Overboard? Maybe, but it doesn't have any connector issues for sure.

For rust removal, and even if you don't end up buying from here, you can really see what's available-

http://www.eastwood.com/
 
Hey now, where do you get your connectors? And I guess that harness ended up being a robotron afterall?

I will have to look at the harness closely to try to determine, plan to do it this week.

I recommend buying connectors from this guy, he posts here too:

http://www.greatplainselectronics.com/Category-37.asp

You want the Molex .156 connectors and headers. You buy the male pin/headers in one length to cut down
 
oh, and for the wire brush ? get a decent heavu duty one for a domestic drill, cup shaped probably 2" diameter to get rid of the worst, and a smaller one for the finish up
 
I picked a hell of a project, huh? I swore I saw a Stargate boardset w/panel for $40 here a couple weeks ago. I might be mistaken. But, I'm wishing I picked it up about now.

Check out what I discovered after removing the crummy battery holder. Some of the green plastic flaked away and presented me with a nice present.

And look what an hour worth of scrubbing with a 2" wire dome brush on my drill and some CLR revealed.

Should I scrap this idea or keep trying? I'm having the cab built anyway since I have every other part. Maybe I can just find a new boardset/panel or do a multiWilliams one day. I'd like to keep it a Stargate, though.

Oh well, seems like such a waste. I'm gonna go smoke a salmon to make me happy!
 

Attachments

  • DSC_0003 (Large).jpg
    DSC_0003 (Large).jpg
    87.6 KB · Views: 26
  • DSC_0001 (Large).jpg
    DSC_0001 (Large).jpg
    91.1 KB · Views: 29
  • DSC_0004 (Large).jpg
    DSC_0004 (Large).jpg
    96.2 KB · Views: 29
That battery corrosion is nothing. I've seen far, far worse. Just clean it up the best you can, sand off any corrosion. There's nothing in that corner of the board, so if that's all it affected, you're fine.

-Ian
 
Yeah, the rust on the mounting plate is horrible, mind you, but if the battery corrosion damage is only on that corner of the PCB, and you don't have lots of fuzzy green IC's from the acid, then fixing it will be easy. You can sand off the corroded areas with sandpaper - try to neutralize the remaining acid first though. Use white vinegar and scrub, then scrub with alcohol, then sand off the remaining corroded bits.

If by chance you have a broken trace due to the corrosion, you can patch it up with wire.

Install a 3v lithium coin cell and holder to replace that battery pack.

As for the rusty mounting pan, you might be able to find another, or you can try to clean that one up. The rust there is strictly going to be cosmetic though - the ground points (the places where the screws mount) should be cleaned up, but the rest of the pan being rusty isn't going to affect anything.

If you want to make it look nice, though, naval jelly (available from auto parts stores) will break down rust - scrape off what rust you can, and layer on the jelly and let it sit, then rinse it off and finish up with a wire wheel/brush/something. Once you have as much rust off as you can get, paint it with automotive primer (they actually make a zinc heavy primer meant for painting over rust) and paint. Once dry, use sandpaper and clean off the tops of all the mounting screw posts so you can still make good ground connection. Or, you might want to mask them off before painting, to keep paint out of the screw threads.

Or you could just forget about it, clean the mounting posts up, and stick it back in there...

-Ian
 
I think I may try that royal jelly next. I did notice rusting inside of the mounting posts, though. Plus, there was a couple screws I could not get off and had to drill them out. So there are a few broken screws inside of the mounting posts.
If I find a cheap one, I think I'll snag another plate. I did buy a lithium battery conversion kit from mr bob roberts last month so I planned on ditching the battery pack to begin with after reading nightmares of acid corrosion. I forgot about soaking with vinegar. I'll do that part soon.
 
Well, here's something on a more positive note. An early Memorial Day celebration. Smoked foods and a bottle of wine.
 

Attachments

  • DSC_0001 (2) (Large).jpg
    DSC_0001 (2) (Large).jpg
    99.9 KB · Views: 18
  • DSC_0002 (Large).jpg
    DSC_0002 (Large).jpg
    96.9 KB · Views: 20
  • DSC_0005 (2) (Large).jpg
    DSC_0005 (2) (Large).jpg
    100.1 KB · Views: 29
I think I may try that royal jelly next. I did notice rusting inside of the mounting posts, though. Plus, there was a couple screws I could not get off and had to drill them out. So there are a few broken screws inside of the mounting posts.
If I find a cheap one, I think I'll snag another plate. I did buy a lithium battery conversion kit from mr bob roberts last month so I planned on ditching the battery pack to begin with after reading nightmares of acid corrosion. I forgot about soaking with vinegar. I'll do that part soon.

I would sand blast that metal plate. Would be a Lot faster and a lot more effective.
 
I was thinking the same thing when I was using the drill earlier. But, I would have no idea where I could do some sandblasing. Or how much it would cost. If I paid someone to do it, you think they would be able to sandblast inside of the screw holes from the posts?
 
I was thinking the same thing when I was using the drill earlier. But, I would have no idea where I could do some sandblasing. Or how much it would cost. If I paid someone to do it, you think they would be able to sandblast inside of the screw holes from the posts?

I would look at Metal shops or Power Coating places. Not sure on the costs. I guess it depends on how much you like removing rust by hand. :D
 
I was thinking the same thing when I was using the drill earlier. But, I would have no idea where I could do some sandblasing. Or how much it would cost. If I paid someone to do it, you think they would be able to sandblast inside of the screw holes from the posts?

screw holes can be re-tapped to get rid of rust (providing no broken screw left in) using the correct threaded plugtap - take the plate to a tool supplier and get em to match a tap for a good standoff with no rust in the thread

standoffs with broken screw remainders could be replaced with new standoff but will need to use a screw at the back to hold the end on the plate, unless you want to track down the correct swaged standoffs and have them swaged in!

easier to get a replacement plate off someone on klov!
 
Wow, you guys are way too full of knowledge, lol. I'll see if I can't track down a new plate. If not, I'll get all this done professionally with the sandblasting and new mounts. This is hardcore stuff.
 
Back
Top Bottom