Elvis Valentine Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 Hey folks, One of the top (treble) concentric pots snapped off my Zenith. I opened her up and was amazed at how simple it all was inside. Because it has that back plate all the electronics are so easy to access unlike every other semi hollow i have ever seen. So i took the circuit board with the pots on it out and it seems like it would be an incredibly simple thing to fix , i would think itys just a case of taking the whole damaged pot off and soldering a new one on. However when i tested it it seems to be ultra high temp solder and my little solderer didnt do anything apart from vaguely heat up everything but no solder melting it also looks vaguely superglued on as well. Does anyone have any experience of this? I think the board is made by Shadow if thats at all helpful? Any help greatly appreciated. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 It's part knack and part equipment. You need a decent sized soldering iron for starters - at least 17W. You need to make sure that you 'wet' the tip before trying to desolder the connection, just melt some solder onto the end of the iron so it has a thin coating on it. Make sure you place the tip of the iron onto the joint you want to desolder so that it lies flat against the joint (allows maximum transference of heat). You'll need a way of getting rid of the molten solder - either desolder braid (you touch it into the molten solder and it just sucks it up through capillary action) or a vacuum tool. Gently wiggle the pot until it releases from the PCB. Don't force it - if it won't move the try heating up the joints again and removing any remaining solder. Don't ever be tempted to use the soldering iron as a heated crowbar. The 'superglue' stuff you can see is just flux that is in the solder - nothing to worry about, it's perfectly normal. Hopefully that'll get you disconnected. To solder everything back together you'll need the same equipment. Make sure the holes in the PCB line up with the pot contacts and that the PCB track hasn't become damaged around the area you've been working on. Hold your wetted iron flat against the prepared patch on the PCB and melt some solder onto the patch. Make sure it flows evenly around the pot contact and over the PCB patch - you don't want a round 'blob' of solder - think of a drip of water on a flat surface, that's the effect you're after. Don't be tempted to blow it to cool it down quickly, let it go solid in it's own time. Job done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elvis Valentine Posted March 8, 2013 Author Share Posted March 8, 2013 Thanks a lot for the advice icastle. I will endeavour to put it to good use over the weekend. Thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 No problem. Let us know how you get on with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.