Need Board Repair Tips , Soldering

ScumBum

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So I'm gonna attempt my first board repair today . I have a DK Jr that had a sound glitch where the background music played constantly and now I'm getting no sound at all from the board. So I picked up these chips , DAC08 , LM324 and 74LS174 .

So for removing chips I clip the leg at the top closes to the chip then heat the leg to loosen the solder and pull the leg out ? Don't heat the board cause I can easily burn a trace ?

Is this the right way ? Any other tips so I don't screw things up and also on soldering in the new chips ?
 
So for removing chips I clip the leg at the top closes to the chip then heat the leg to loosen the solder and pull the leg out ? Don't heat the board cause I can easily burn a trace ?
Yep-- that will do it. When removing, just hold the leg with needle-nose and then heat the leg (not the board) on the solder side. When the solder flows, the leg will pull out with almost zero effort. The next step is cleaning up the hole. Put some solder braid on the hole and then heat it up. The solder will wick to it and when you remove it, the solder goes with.

If you plan any significant amount of board repair, then I recommend a de-soldering gun. I use a Hakko-808 and the thing rocks. You just put it on the pin, gentle move it around and when the solder goes molten, press a button and the pump sucks it out. Does not require cutting the chip legs. Sometimes the chip actually falls out on its own once I am done de-soldering and they often come out in good enough condition they could be reused if the chip was uncommon enough.
 
So I'm gonna attempt my first board repair today . I have a DK Jr that had a sound glitch where the background music played constantly and now I'm getting no sound at all from the board. So I picked up these chips , DAC08 , LM324 and 74LS174 .

So for removing chips I clip the leg at the top closes to the chip then heat the leg to loosen the solder and pull the leg out ? Don't heat the board cause I can easily burn a trace ?

Is this the right way ? Any other tips so I don't screw things up and also on soldering in the new chips ?

A good practice is to solder a socket in the ic's place and push the ic into the socket. Saves hassles later if you got to change them again.
Also you get absolutely no damaging heat into the ic.
You can get average sockets and real good ones.... obviously you pay accordingly
 
I recommend first practicing (a lot!) on a scrap board before trying your hand on a board you plan to use.
 
A good practice is to solder a socket in the ic's place and push the ic into the socket. Saves hassles later if you got to change them again.
Also you get absolutely no damaging heat into the ic.
You can get average sockets and real good ones.... obviously you pay accordingly

Oh cool idea . How much for a decent socket ? Which ones are pretty good ?
 
VICTORY !!!

It took me a long time since it was my first board repair but it fixed the sound problem !!! Well almost 100% fixed , theres still a very faint springy sound in the background . Alot of the chips had rusty legs , so I know there is another sound chip causing that faint noise in the background . But the main problem of the background music of level 1 playing constantly and other music played in the wrong places is fixed .

I got a soldering iron with a thin tip , thin solder and a magnifying glass and it came out pretty good .
 
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