Can this WG monitor board be fixed?

[Kev-in DFW]

The neck board (?term) on this 19" Wells Gardner Monitor was broken in transit.

[menace]

yep, if you're handy with a soldering iron then I don't see why not.  Remove the neckboard and mainboard (discharge first) then bridge each cracked solder trace with a piece of insulated or plain wire (depending on how far you are going and what you are going over top --idea is to not short out the connection to something else)  Then when all your connections are made and checked you could hot glue or epoxy the 2 pieces together to give it some strength.  i would bridge the two pieces with plastic or wood strips then hot glue/epoxy for additional strength, but its up to you.

[Ken Layton]

Absolutely this can be repaired, it just takes some time to do it right. On something like this I always take the whole chassis out just as if I were doing a capkit as it makes working on the neckboard that much easier.

You'll need a sharp Xacto knife and some crocus cloth/fine grit sandpaper to scrape the paint off the traces and buff the copper foil to nice & shiny for soldering. Go to Radio Shack and buy # 278-1341 Pre-tinned 24 gauge solid buss wire to use for bridging the broken sections. Don't just float solder over the broken sections they need to be bridged with some wire soldered over the break. Make sure the wire follows the original layout and doesn't accidently touch adjacent traces.

Once you're all done, double check it real good. You can see the foil layout in the 4900 series service manuals you can download at various sites.

When I finish and it all tests good, I strengthen the repaired area by either putting some expoxy glue or silicone glue over it. Always let any glue set for 24 hours before powering up as some glues conduct electricity while wet.

[Kev-in DFW]

Thanks guys and thank you for the in depth tutorial Ken.  I will let you know how it turns out this weekend!  Sounds like it should go rather smoothly~

Very appreciative,

Kev~

[OldSchool79]

If you're really good with epoxy, you could make look almost as though it was never broken.

EDIT: I forgot to say

Also, in addition to what Ken said, I would try testing it before putting silicon over the tracks, nothing like trying to remove hard silicon sealant... it has to be cut off with a knife sometimes it's so tough.

[Raven..]

I saw an ad for a "pen" to create/repair pcb traces.  They sell them at Fry's for about $15.  Has anyone ever tried doing it with one of those?

[Ken Layton]

No, in this application those pens are useless due to the fact the underlying circuit board is cracked/broken. It is in my expert opinion to avoid these pens for this kind of repair.

[Raven..]

Even if you epoxy the board together first?

[Ken Layton]

NO, soldering in jumper wires is the best repair. In my opinion you would be wasting your time on those stupid pens.

[Raven..]

Great!  That is a very definitive answer, thanks Ken.  You are always an excellent resource! 

BTW, I have a G07 that had a cracked neckboard.....fixed with jumper wires after reading one of your posts quite a while back.    I am not afraid of the soldering iron personally. 

[Kev-in DFW]

What are you trying to say Doc, that I AM afraid of the soldering iron?  j/k

I am hitting that monitor issue TONIGHT.  I already picked up some pretinned buss wire at the Shack and now me and the monitor are having a stare down!

After looking at it more closely there shouldn't be but a few traces that need mended.  Do I just scrape off the green top layer or will solder burn through to the trace?

Thanks for everything Ken, Doc and other forum members.  We will let you know if I, or the monitor, wins this one!

Kev~

[Ken Layton]

You need to take an Xacto knife and scrape that green paint off the foil traces to be repaired. Solder does not stick to paint. You also need the fine grit sandpaper to shine up the copper foil after the green paint has been scraped. The foil traces need to be bright, shiny copper for proper soldering.

[Kev-in DFW]

Ken,

Thanks so much for all the help, I am getting ready to dive in.

I still cannot find Wells Gardner 4900 Repair info on the web.  I have been hunting the neck board trace diagram in particular.  Anybody have any idea where it could be found?

Thanks again,

Kev~

[Raven..]

You should be able to find it here:
http://www.arcadehelp.com/manual/monitor/Wells/

[bjk7382]

I asked this Same Question about the same monitor qute a while ago when I first started collecting. When I went to pick up the games, one of them had the monitor taken out and it got broke when I tried to strap it down.

I used resistor leads for the jumpers on the traces. And fortunately I only had about 10 traces to fix, which were easy to line up.