Hi all, This is just a helpful tip for those who might need to debug an Elecraft product.
I needed to isolate some items on my KPA100 that used the 5V line. If I cut a couple of traces it would be very easy to do the trouble shooting. What I was afraid of was that the trace repairs would be unsightly. For the first cut I made sure that I choose the narrowest section of the trace thinking I would do the least amount of damage. However, I was wrong. Because the trace was so thin I could not get the solder to bridge the slit in the trace. By the way, the cuts I made were with a straight edge razor which were very thin. So I had to use the nice green insulated hook up wire contained in one of the Elecraft kits and bridge the two solder lands nearest either side of the cut. The next cut I made was in a much thicker section of another trace. This time the width was about equal to the width of a solder land for the typical IC socket pin. When it was time to repair the trace I gently scratched away the green coating on the trace on either side of the cut for a width about equal to a solder land for an IC socket pin. When I added the solder it bridged the cut very nicely. In fact the repair looks just like the IC socket pin land after it is soldered. Very neat and hardly noticeable. So in summary, if you are going to cut a trace for diagnostic purposes and intend to repair it later on, make sure you choose a part of the trace that is wide enough to allow you to bridge some solder over the gap when you do the repair. The results will not even be noticeable. Conversely, repairing narrow traces are difficult to impossible, at the best unsightly, and will require a wire jumper repair to bypass the trace. 72, Steve, W2MY -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.9.4/57 - Release Date: 7/22/2005 _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
