Peeling PCB trace?

[bifbangpow]

Yikes This happened ni trying to remove a stubborn ic socket:




Is there a good way to fix this?  Can I just solder some lead where the trace should be?  It also ripped off the pad.

[bloxstompboxes]

There are trace repair kits. The cheapest one I know of is a couple hundred bucks. I use them at work all the time. They have pads with/without traces, or just traces, along with epoxy to cement them down with.

In your case, as a DIYer, I would check to make sure the bottom pad is still there. If so, replace the IC, but first take note of the other pad that the trace goes to, pin 10 it looks like, and just make a jumper wire from pad to pad on the bottom side of the PCB. I wouldn't bother worrying about trying to fix the existing trace.

[adrianhertz]

the cheapest way to fix it is using a blob of soldering, alternatively you can use a small wire and solder it directly on the trace, but a kit is the most professional way to fix it...

Sent from my HTC Desire 626s using Tapatalk

[davent]

To make life easier next time just cut all the legs of the socket (or common IC if no socket). Then you can cleanly desolder the individual legs from the holes/pads.
dave

[thermionix]

That other socket looks fubar too.

[bluebunny]

I vote for Eric's fix: make a link under the board.  Trying to fix it topside will be, um, "unsatisfactory" or "challenging" or worse - even if the pad were still there.

[R.G.]

This won't help this time, but it may reinforce what you're finding as a useful lesson. When you have to remove a part from a PCB, you need to decide whether you need to save (1) the part (2) the PCB or (3) both of them. If you can, make the choice to destroy the part to save the PCB, or to destroy the PCB to remove the part safely. It's many times more difficult to save both of them, and there is a risk that you simply won't be able to accomplish it.

I've been removing parts from PCBs for some decades now. Even with lots of practice and good tools, the success rate is not great with saving both part and PCB. I can do it, but as any surgeon will tell you, not all operations are successful. Any time you simply have to save a part and a PCB, there had better be a socket/connector there.

Yes, I know that you're removing a socket. In that case, the socket is the "part". A socket should always be destroyed to replace the socket, if this makes saving the PCB one scintilla easier.

And after decades of repairing PCB traces, I feel your pain.

[duck_arse]

there used to be a time we would just reach for some "wire wrapping" wire, with its heat resistant insulation. strip a length and feed the ends into the two empty pads, refit the socket/IC over it, and solder the socket leg and wire at the same time.

[bifbangpow]

To make life easier next time just cut all the legs of the socket (or common IC if no socket). Then you can cleanly desolder the individual legs from the holes/pads.
dave

yeah unfortunately this time there was no way to even get in there. its a very cluttered board.

[bifbangpow]

That other socket looks fubar too.

yeah i was removing both at the time of photo.

[bifbangpow]

the cheapest way to fix it is using a blob of soldering, alternatively you can use a small wire and solder it directly on the trace, but a kit is the most professional way to fix it...

Sent from my HTC Desire 626s using Tapatalk

just discovered the pad is missing on both sides of that socket.  is it worth trying to jumper it? or even blob it?

[Hatredman]

In the eighties I used these. But I can't find them anymore.




--
Scarlett Johansson uses a Burst Box with her Telecaster.

[bloxstompboxes]

the cheapest way to fix it is using a blob of soldering, alternatively you can use a small wire and solder it directly on the trace, but a kit is the most professional way to fix it...

Sent from my HTC Desire 626s using Tapatalk

just discovered the pad is missing on both sides of that socket.  is it worth trying to jumper it? or even blob it?

If you can solder a wire from one pin to the next, then sure. The connection just needs to be made on the part, not the board. if there is another trace on the other side of the board connected to either pin and then something else, then it will need to be connected as well.

[Tony Forestiere]

Bridge pins 2 and 10 on the new socket before you install it. 5 and 8 for extra insurance. 5 Still looks clogged.

[davent]

Bridge pins 2 and 10 on the new socket before you install it. 5 and 8 for extra insurance. 5 Still looks clogged.

With a machined type socket you could do that with a couple pieces of thin wire right on the socket before installing.

dave

[greaser_au]

This won't help this time, but it may reinforce what you're finding as a useful lesson. When you have to remove a part from a PCB, you need to decide whether you need to save (1) the part (2) the PCB or (3) both of them. If you can, make the choice to destroy the part to save the PCB, or to destroy the PCB to remove the part safely. It's many times more difficult to save both of them, and there is a risk that you simply won't be able to accomplish it.

I've been removing parts from PCBs for some decades now. Even with lots of practice and good tools, the success rate is not great with saving both part and PCB. I can do it, but as any surgeon will tell you, not all operations are successful. Any time you simply have to save a part and a PCB, there had better be a socket/connector there.

Yes, I know that you're removing a socket. In that case, the socket is the "part". A socket should always be destroyed to replace the socket, if this makes saving the PCB one scintilla easier.

And after decades of repairing PCB traces, I feel your pain.

I was the PCB repair/modification operator in a specialist factory for a handful of years. We had excellent tools and equipment, so component removal was not terribly difficult, with only really small holes or unrelieved power/ground/shield planes causing problems (I've used a normal soldering iron on the top and the desoldering iron on the bottom more than once ). I have still damaged more PCBs than I'd like to admit. Because of the cost of the assembled PCBs, and worse- the cost of the QA paperwork associated with a defect repair/scrap,  unless it was desperately needed to save a device, generally the first tool used in removing anything with more than 2 or 3 leads was a pair of wirenippers to minimise the risk of damage.

In the photo, it looks like the through-plating in some holes has been damaged, especially on the top row, a continuity check top to bottom on pins 5, 8, 13 & 14 will be in order.  Cut the loose bit of track (to pin 2) with a sharp blade at least back to where it is still properly attached.
I'll beg to differ with previous posters:  I suggest you put the jumper wire(s) on the solder side of the PCB - if it's on top (depending on the new socket) you will not be able to confirm the jumper solder joints are ok after you solder the socket into the board, and if the socket needs to to be removed again, the extra mass (wire + solder) and/or reduced clearance will make it more difficult. I think that a topside repair without proper techniques (e.g using repair eyelets) will come back to bite down the track (no pun intended).

david

[bifbangpow]

I suggest you put the jumper wire(s) on the solder side of the PCB - if it's on top (depending on the new socket) you will not be able to confirm the jumper solder joints are ok after you solder the socket into the board, and if the socket needs to to be removed again, the extra mass (wire + solder) and/or reduced clearance will make it more difficult. I think that a topside repair without proper techniques (e.g using repair eyelets) will come back to bite down the track (no pun intended).

david

oooo good point.  plus the sockets im using have very short leads. i wouldnt want to inhibit them from going all the way into the holes because there is a wire on the top side keeping it from going down all the way.