TV Tube, Neck PCB Snapped, Repairable?

smeagolsama

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Bought a cool little tube tv over the weekend only to have it damaged in transit. Not sure if I can file a ups claim or anything as I didn't open it the day I got it (yesterday) due to time constraints, and there is no obvious damage to the box, so I doubt they'll do anything anyway.

Problem is that the monitor on it was pushed into the box, which then pressed the nec pcb against the back of the case causing it to snap in two. There looks to be about 12 traces that was cut due to that. I'm attaching pics to the post.

Is this repairable? Anybody willing to tackle this? Could I do it myself, looks pretty basic around 13 or so traces big solder points. Would just join solder points together with wire, where the traces were broken, then probably hot glue those down so they can't move around to much.

One problem is that the video wires going to the main pcb are soldered to this board. Should I cut them and put on a molex so I can have this board repaired, is it even repairable, should I just try it myself, or maybe find a small electronics shop around town.

Thanks for any advice.
 

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If the picture tube itself isn't broken, then yes. It's definitely fixable. A broken neck board is easy to fix. It's a single sided board. It happens on arcade monitors a lot, since the neckboard gets fragile from the heat.

Glue the board back together with epoxy, and bridge the broken traces with stiff wire (paper clip wire works good). Just scrape away the green solder mask to get copper to solder to. I've done this many times, works great, and it isn't hard to do at all.

-Ian
 
Thanks for the quick reply. Never even thought about scraping the green off, as I was just going to go from post to post, but that would work so much better.

Will probalby call UPS tomorrow to make sure theres nothing I can do there, and go for it tomorrow night, unless I get busy with other stuff.
 
Since this is actually a really common problem, I thought there was a chance Bob Roberts had written up something. Checked his website, and sure enough, he's got a whole writeup:
http://www.therealbobroberts.net/bnb.html

And to address a question you had - don't try cutting the wires and installing a connector. The focus lead carries fairly high voltage - higher than most connectors are rated for.

-Ian
 
Thanks for the quick reply. Never even thought about scraping the green off, as I was just going to go from post to post, but that would work so much better.

Yeah, the green stuff on a circuit board is called the solder mask. It's just a non-conductive coating/paint. You can scrape it off with a knife. You definitely want to use some wire to bridge - don't just try to make big solder blobs. It's not as strong, and liable to break again.

-Ian
 
You definitely want to use some wire to bridge - don't just try to make big solder blobs. It's not as strong, and liable to break again.

-Ian

Way easier to make a good connection with something attracting the solder too :) I personally use scrap wire, stranded, 14 or 16 gauge (or multiple layers of 18-20 gauge) for exactly this reason.
 
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i save clipped cap leads from kits just for this purpose. if the crack is immediately next to or runs right through a solder joint i'll use just a big blob but otherwise i'll bridge with a piece of lead wire.
 
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