deslodered helders PCB board now two buttons wont work

[Thatbraziliann]

As to @wermys suggestion I desoldered my wired from @helder pcb board but I suck at soldering so when pulling out cable I believe I may have pulled out the gold circles that connect to the traces because on my multimeter I get connection from all pads to holes except for start and B.. see picture attached. and I know it isnt the pads because they read connection to ground... any suggestions? all my pieces finally came in but it looks like ill be ordering a board from kitsch-bent iif nothing else... ughhh I should have just left the lengthy wires how they were.. I hate my life hahaha not really just bummed.

thanks in advance



any advice will help...

or if @helder if you have any boards left PM looks like I may need another :/

[Thatbraziliann]

guess since its only two I could always just tap into the traces?

[DirtyBullets]

Yes you can just simply and careful scrape the tracers and then apply a bit of solder but i suggest lead solder because it sounds like you used lead free and requires more heat and time.

[Hathe]

Why desolder from the board if you're cutting the wires down?

As a rule of thumb, I never have the soldering iron on the PCB for more than 2 seconds. Keeping the soldering iron on any longer may damage the board in a number of ways, mostly being cosmetic. If you find yourself absolutely having to hold it on longer to melt solder ask yourself this;

• how long has the solder iron been heating up? My SI is low watts, I give it a good minute between each solder joint to make sure it's at maximum heat. It is not an expensive SI, but that doesn't mean anything to me, it works and I know how to use it well.
• What kind of solder are you using? Flux core is not necessary if you are using soldering flux before each solder joint. If you are not sure what solder flux is, stop now and do a little reading. It's a life changer if you're a beginner! Also, as DirtyBullets suggested, how much lead is in your solder? I like around 60ish/40ish blend at .050" (1.27mm) dia. Smaller is fine for these projects, larger is not. More lead = lower melt point.

Keep asking questions. You're smart enough to find out two buttons were not working. Good work, keep it up!

[Helder]

Put the wires through the hole and scrape the traces coating off (red coating) near the holes and solder to the traces and wham bam done. Easy fix.

[Thatbraziliann]

Thanks for all the info guys.

@hathe it wasn't the soldering iron I was pulling from the back too hard without having completely taken away all the solder.. dumb move on my part. I got ansy after being on vacation for the past two weeks and not working on my baby... But the same thing happened with the first PCB board (original in the DMG) and everyone in the community was super supportive like "don't worry its a learning experience get a custom one and move on".. and they were right. I was able to tap into the traces first try for the two that were messed up and IRONICALLY had to leave the wires at the same length as before.. so I wasted about 1.5 hrs when to get the same result I had before but now not as clean hahaha.

Thanks @helder I probably should've done that but this was easy too.

Check out my half @wermy and half @helder type board hahaha

on to part 4 finally.

[DirtyBullets]

Glad to hear you have it sorted out

[Hathe]

Nice. Looks like you're using a good heavier gauge for the wires. I ordered some multi-color ribbon cable for convenience without description of size and they're super tiny, maybe 28-30 awg. Next time I'll be using wires out of some cat5 cables that are 24ish and bend very nicely.