Reattaching lifting PCB traces & solder pads (so they can be soldered again)

[moritz]

Does anyone know if it's possible to glue down lifting PCB traces and solder pads so that they can be soldered without the glue melting and re-lifting the trace? Is there any kind of glue out there that can stand up to these kind of temperatures? I know epoxy glue, for example, will melt far too early, but what about some of the super glue varieties?

I've also heard of people repairing PCBs using car rear window defroster repair kits, but I'd rather reattach the existing traces if possible. Here's an example of the kind of defroster repair kit I'm talking about: http://www.frostfighter.com/prt2100.htm

[Derringer]

I had a small trace lift on me and I was able to just take a component lead, bend it to the proper shape, and then solder it so that it mechanically held the trace down.

don't know if that will help you or not though

[darron]

if i need to repair board where the trace has lifted off, then i will usually cut if off and solder the component at the next closest point. if it's really damaged then just make a new board and transfer the parts across. you can even solder on top of another component's pad that had the same continuity. use some heat shrink is the component leads have to make a distance where it could possibly short. if you've come across a board that's so damaged that the traces are lifting then it's probably not a good idea to keep using it?


looking at the link that you posted, the traces it makes are probably of moderately high resistance relative to the pcb traces. it's an element that you are making after all. i can't imagine simply painting on something as good as copper.


what is it that you are repairing? have you got any pics?

[R.G.]

I've never found a practical way to do this, and never seen any tech who had one. The universal practice is to cut it off, bend a loop in a bit of component lead to simulate the pad, then solder the straight part of the lead to part of the trace that's left after the cutting. This can be quite sturdy, especially if you use a longish "leg" to solder to the remaining trace, and perhaps epoxy the "leg" to the board if the board will see really rough duty. For effects, the epoxy is not needed.

[moritz]

Ok, thanks for the replies guys. I had a feeling I was being optimistic with the idea of gluing them down. It's actually for the main PCB of a CD player; someone had previously replaced some transistors with the wrong type and done a good job of hacking up the PCB with their replacement job. It's ok though, I can work around the lifted solder pads with the usual methods (using component leads, etc. as you guys have mentioned). I just figured if there was some kind of magic glue out there that could hold these down and withstand soldering iron temperatures, then that would be ideal. Oh well...
Thanks again!

[Mick Bailey]

There is a commercial kit for repairing and adding traces which is solderable, resists high temperature and is very successful. Expensive for DIY use.

http://www.intertronics.co.uk/products/crc2012100.htm

[chi_boy]

I used this technique several times when I modded my Blues Jr.:

http://home.comcast.net/~machrone/bjr/mistakes.htm

I also used the same method on my tonepad Chorus, a great board BTW, and also on a friends Blues Breaker that he managed to lift a trace.  All of the repairs went well and are very firm and appear strong.

Good luck,
George