Worklog Nemo's G-wii worklog

Stitches

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If you get no resistance, the trace is severed. You can save it by running a wire from the via to the corresponding leg of the NAND chip
 
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If I thread 0.1 mm Cu wire through any of the trace vias and measure from the NAND leg, I still get no resistance. Is 0.1 mm Cu wire too thin to be conductive enough?
 

Stitches

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0.1mm is 38AWG, which most of us use for basically all small relocations including NAND repairs. When you say you "thread" the wire, you aren't just shoving one end of the wire into the hole and calling it a day are you? You need to tin the wire to burn off the insulating enamel coating and solder the wire to the via to get a proper connection
 
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I wanted to just confirm the other traces were good by testing them with the copper wire through the other vias. I guess the insulating coating is prevented me from reading any resistance through the wire, even if I just wrap either end around the multimeter probes. I have done as you suggested, though without any real way to test if the connection is good, I have enough doubts to begin shopping for another wii.
 

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Why have you poked the wire through the hole?
 
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Is it a problem? It seemed a way to ensure contact to the via, as solder would wick down the copper into the via hole more easily.
EDIT: The second outer most trace is also bad. I will need to add another wire. Is there any way to test these repairs to determine if they are working?
 
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Is it a problem? It seemed a way to ensure contact to the via, as solder would wick down the copper into the via hole more easily.
EDIT: The second outer most trace is also bad. I will need to add another wire. Is there any way to test these repairs to determine if they are working?
Yes, it is a problem, the magnet wire you are using is insulated, the insulation is clear so you can't see it, but it is still there, just sticking it through the via is just as effective as leaving the end of the wire completely loose without it being anywhere near anything or not even having the wire at all. To do this repair effectively you need to melt a ball of solder onto your iron, then carefully grab hold onto the other end of your magnet wire and carefully insert the end of the wire a few millimeters into the molten solder on your iron until you get a little bit of smoke and the wire gets hot to the touch, which should take a couple seconds, then carefully remove the wire from the solder ball. The last few millimeters should be tinned at this point because you burned the insulation off of the wire so the solder was able to stick to the now exposed copper. After doing all that you can insert just the tinned bit of the wire into the via and add more solder just like you would do with any through hole component and then you will have done your trace repair.
 

Stitches

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Is it a problem? It seemed a way to ensure contact to the via, as solder would wick down the copper into the via hole more easily.
EDIT: The second outer most trace is also bad. I will need to add another wire. Is there any way to test these repairs to determine if they are working?
Sadly the only way to know for sure is to power on the system. If you get colid continuity from leg to via, chances are it's good
 
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Thanks for all the help. I will try to repair the damage again later and crack on with the build. In the meantime, I'll order another wii in case this trim ends up being unsalvageable.
 

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It looks like you may have bridged a few of the NAND pins
 

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It looks like you may have bridged a few of the NAND pins
Those NAND legs are most certainly shorted. In order to clean that up flood the area in flux and apply more solder to the legs, then use wick to clean it up.
That is exactly what I was afraid of. I am using 0.6 mm diameter solder currently, and I am finding it difficult to apply solder to the nand legs at these dimensions. Would I be better off ordering 0.2mm solder and working with that?
 
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I wouldn't use wick on legs that small, it is easy to bend pins or lift pads with wick on stuff that small. I prefer to thoroughly clean the tip of my iron, add flux, and melt the solder bridging the pins, then carefully remove the iron. The iron will pull away a bit of solder, if that removes the bridge great, if not clean the iron again and repeat as necessary.

To avoid creating bridges in the future, for this type of fine pitch work, don't apply solder directly to the joints at all, as long as you are adding additional flux to the joint as needed, you can carefully melt a small amount of solder onto your iron, then apply the iron to the joint, this gives you more control over the amount of solder, and if you add too much to the iron you can just clean your tip and add solder again before applying the iron to the joint. This won't work if you aren't adding flux to the area you are working because all the flux in the core of the solder will have burnt off by the time the iron touches the joint, but you should always have flux around anyways
 

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That is exactly what I was afraid of. I am using 0.6 mm diameter solder currently, and I am finding it difficult to apply solder to the nand legs at these dimensions. Would I be better off ordering 0.2mm solder and working with that?
Nah you just need some decent no-clean flux. It'll help out majorly
 
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I spent a good bit of time today adding flux, heating it up with the soldering iron then reapplying flux, reheating and repeating until it looks a bit grimy, at which point I either apply the wick for a bit, or clean the flux off with IPA and start again with fresh flux. The results look better, but it is definitely still bridged. Would the cheap hot air station I have improve the situation at all or am I better off just continuing with the same procedure I've been using?
 

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hot air isn't going to do anything about having too much solder. Trying to remove solder with the iron is only going to work if you are very thorough about cleaning your tip to make sure there isn't any left on the tip when you melt the excess solder on the pins, if there is no solder on the tip some of the solder from the pins will stick to the iron but if you have any left on the iron it will do nothing at best and add solder from the iron onto the pins at worst. If you use wick you need to be very careful, if any part of the wick is touching the pins or pads and cools down it will stick, and with very small pins and pads it is very easy to rip them if the wick sticks. Keeping your iron in contact with the wick isn't always enough to prevent this because portions of the wick further away from the iron can cool down and if one of the pads is connected to a thick trace like a ground it can absorb more heat than expected, and many irons may have trouble outputting enough heat to keep up depending on their wattage, the tip size and shape, and the way the tip is heated
 
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I will say my respect for nand relocators has grown even larger, something I previously thought impossible.
 

Stitches

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I will say my respect for nand relocators has grown even larger, something I previously thought impossible.
Yeah you really don't understand truly how aids it is until you have to work on the thing yourself. The NAND flex is a gift from the heavens
 
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