Contact came off

[Cameron]

I was soldering on my xbox controller, to the ground point on the bottom where the spring ground contact is. While doing it the copper, or whatever metal it is that is on the circuit came off and I cannot solder onto the circuit now. Is there a way to make a new contact or what?

Cameron

[crashman2k7]

lol hahahhahaa the controller are so cheap! the contact come off so ez wa u do is just scratch the trace*it huge dont worr* and solder it to the terminal it goes 2.

[gameroms]

ill repair free, if you want me to.

would also be nice if you show us what youve done so i can see if i can fix for you.

[Cameron]

I tried to scratch the paint off but had no luck trying to solder to it. I applied flux hoping that would help but nothing. Is there another ground terminal I can use for my 3 wire rapidfire kit from Mike.

Thanks,
Cameron

[Winterz117]

what wattage soldering iron are you using?

[sean7341]

Good point, it looks like you are working with a not-so-good iron for this type of job.  Radioshack sells a 15-watt for around $9.  Mike has the same one at his shop too.  I would recommend getting one of those.  I have soldered a ton of LEDs, and done a few 3 wire kits with it.  It is worth the money.

[Cameron]

I have a Hakko 936 soldering station, not sure on how many watts. I have had it for a few years now soldering larger gauge wires for high powered remote controlled stuff. I am using a small tip and soldering at temps of 550 to 600. I guess I should crank it down a bunch for the future. Is there a way to make a new contact or something I could re-trace? I used the same iron to do the led mod, where now my 4 green leds are red, that is really cool. Like I said above, is there another ground I can use?

Edit: The terminal looks all messed up because I was trying to get it hot to accept solder but that wouldn't work.

Thanks,
Cameron

[gameroms]

your on 600 F, cut that down to 400F if not lower,  also if you use rechargeable batteries you shouldnt need that point.


use the gnd point in this, it will work fine

[802Chives]

nice iron cameron, looks like you could use some "tip tinner" tho on your soldering tip.  Tips get real oxidized when you leave them on as you can see in your photo.  Probably why you couldn't get it to accept solder.

you also may want to invest in tip cleaning wire also made by hakko, kinda like a glorified brillo pad, will help strip the oxidation.

As far as temperatures go, 600F is probably a good place to have it set, solder usually melts somewhere around 400F.  Personally, my iron never leaves 750F, but my joints never take anymore than a second to make.  the closer your iron is to 400F the longer it will take to make a joint, so find what works for you.

One last thing, are you using rosin core solder?  If you don't you will need to employ the use of flux paste in order to help conduct the heat and draw solder to where you want.  Flux paste is a good thing to have around even if you already use rosin core.

[gameroms]

personally 400F  is perfect for my hakko 936, but i sometimes bump to 550F, only takes a split second to solider,  play with your temps find whats best for you, also use smallest diameter solider you can get.

[gameroms]

Any iron below $40 is terrible, and will wear out within 3 months..not to mention the inefficient heating core..

i call bull on that when i first started i used a $9 Radio Shack  iron, and grinded and filed my tip to be custom how i wanted it, and all this work was done with the $9 iron, and it lasted for 2 yrs.

http://www.consolemods.us/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewforum&f=28

i will admit my work now looks better, thanks to the hakko 936 and the 100's of tips available.

[ChevyRacing09]

your on 600 F, cut that down to 400F if not lower,  also if you use rechargeable batteries you shouldnt need that point.


use the gnd point in this, it will work fine

What is the best way to run all the wire to the points?

Steve

[gameroms]

how every you want to, there is no specific way.

[sean7341]

Is there any way to keep the wire on the board?  The only problems I have had with rapidfire is kinks and such in the wires because the wire was all messy.

[gameroms]

put a drop of super glue on a piece of cardboard, use a latch pin, and put tip on pin in glue then use the little drip thats on end of pen to glue wire down.  thats the best way to do it so you dont flood with super glue.

i personall use no glue, and cut wires to exact lengths and i have no problems.

[Winterz117]

just use a bit of hot glue and take your time wiring everything up. i have a controller with leds in the face buttons, and the dome so thats alot of wires and everything fits fine