Shop-Job for the Boards?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Hi,
When you do a thorough shop job to a newly bought WPC game, apart from
cleaning every component, what are the various actions that you do for
your system boards in the head of the game? I know about checking
fuses, but are there other things on your check-list for the system
boards when you shop your machine?
Thanks

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

trick72@graffiti.net wrote:
> Hi,
> When you do a thorough shop job to a newly bought WPC game, apart from
> cleaning every component, what are the various actions that you do for
> your system boards in the head of the game? I know about checking
> fuses, but are there other things on your check-list for the system
> boards when you shop your machine?
> Thanks

I remove all the boards and clean the inside of the head to remove all
of the dust and dirt. I then use the Shop Vac on each board, which
cleans them up nice. Finally, I examine every solder joint for cracking
and every component for signs of heat under a magnifying glass light.
everything is repaired and reexamined then put back together. Hope this
helps.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

The suggestion of using a shop vac on the CPU board is risky; vacs can
develop a significant static charge on the plastic hose, which can
destroy the ICs on the board if you get a discharge from the hose. If
you do use a shop vac, be sure to use a ground strap between the board
and the vac to prevent a static discharge.

Joseph "Tony" Dziedzic

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Using a natural bristle paint brush and compressed air is a great - and
safer - suggestion. If you do want to use a vac, you can buy one of
those "static-safe" vacs that are sold for use on PC keyboards and the
like.

Tony

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Please Do Not use a vacuum of any kind on circuit boards. Very bad...
you will at some point damage the boards. Simple solution here is to
through them in the dishwasher WITHOUT the heating element turned on.
They will come out looking brand new.... Do Not do this if the board
has a relay on it. The water will enter the relay.

Don...

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

YIKES! Vacuums and dishwashers OH MY!!!!!

(PLEASE! Just _leave_them _alone_ if they work.)

Fred
TX
CARGPB#8
===========================

 

[pt]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

No shopvacs or dishwashers for boards!

Shopvac produces static as many have noted. The worst part is that
static damage generally takes months to manifest into a hard failure.
By that time you won't even realize that you were the one who caused
the failure!! 3M makes special no-static vacuums for this purpose.

The dishwasher is bad too. Especially for boards with socketed chips
or an ASIC as on the WPC CPU boards. Tap water and soap do not wash
out completely and leaves corrosive deposits behind. Its just a matter
of time before the corrosion starts. On boards like the WPC driver
board, the dishwasher can wash away (or at least dilute) the heat sink
grease. This is a BAD thing. Also, a dishwasher will wash away the
labels from ROM chips.

I clean my boards while wearing a wrist strap. I use a brush and
compressed air. For a really dirty board or cleaning solder resin; I
use a brush and 100% isopropyl alcohol. Just keep the alcohol away
from heat sink greased components.

John

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Dishwasher is the way to go. No question about it. Remove
relays/unsealed buttons, then run it on through. It'll be beautiful.
Thats what we do in the factory.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Agreed, Fred. Something that can be as sensitive as boards aren't
something I'd want to put through the rigors of a dishwashing cycle,
heat or no heat. If they work properly, leave them be. Life throws
enough problems at us as-is.


Aron

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

I picked up a TAF that was an reimport from Yogo as I was told. A
complete ground up restore job. It was so dirty that every time you
touched the playfield or hand your hands in the head box you looked
like you been playing in a Kentucky coal mine. I sprayed the boards
with "Orange Blast" (Greased Lighting) from HD. I used a soft tooth
brush for scrubbing. Then did a warm water rinse. I did this in laundry
sink. Then a used a Hot air gun with the heat off. The boards look like
new and no problems as yet. The boards have been in use for a month now.

 

[martin]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

DIP switches don't do well in a dishwasher. And I don't think that
dishwasher soap is a good idea either, unless you find one that does
not have strong alkalis or phosphates in it.

But those two other caveats aside, the dishwasher will do a great job.
Water wash is a common process for board manufacturing. You should see
what the boards go through when they are assembled.

 

[pt]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

I doubt ANY factory uses a regular dishwasher with Cascade and tap
water to clean boards with socketed chips or heat sink grease
installed. If you know of any, let me know so I can avoid their
products.

John

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

On 23 Jun 2005 08:23:35 -0700, "PT" <zeecarr1@earthlink.net> wrote:

[...]

>
>I clean my boards while wearing a wrist strap. I use a brush and
>compressed air. For a really dirty board or cleaning solder resin; I
>use a brush and 100% isopropyl alcohol. Just keep the alcohol away
>from heat sink greased components.

I used isopropyl alchohol on a BSD opto board once and it left a
whitish haze on the board that is impossible to get off. On these
boards even flux cleaner seems to do that.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

> The suggestion of using a shop vac on the CPU board is risky; vacs can
> develop a significant static charge on the plastic hose, which can
> destroy the ICs on the board if you get a discharge from the hose. If
> you do use a shop vac, be sure to use a ground strap between the board
> and the vac to prevent a static discharge.

I was thinking the same thing. Would a natural bristle paint-brush work to
losen the dirt and then blast it away with compressed air in a can? I think
that would be safer.

--
Mike S.
Kalamazoo, MI

Gameroom: http://tinyurl.com/4hfev
W C S Owner's List: http://tinyurl.com/39cjo
M B Scoop Repair: http://tinyurl.com/9lfu
--------------------------------------------

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

> I was thinking the same thing. Would a natural bristle paint-brush work
> to losen the dirt and then blast it away with compressed air in a can? I
> think that would be safer.

Yes, that's what we do here at work, or we use a static dissipative
vaccuum.
-just my 2%

--
Aaron Talley ACO / MCT
WCIA / WCFN Engineering
atalley@wcia.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

If the boards work, I dont touch them. I clean the head out and wipe
it down but I will never clean the board as long as it works. Why ask
for problems????

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

>I doubt ANY factory uses a regular dishwasher with Cascade and tap
> water to clean boards with socketed chips or heat sink grease
> installed. If you know of any, let me know so I can avoid their
> products.

I would think it's just straight RO water.

--
Mike S.
Kalamazoo, MI

Gameroom: http://tinyurl.com/4hfev
W C S Owner's List: http://tinyurl.com/39cjo
M B Scoop Repair: http://tinyurl.com/9lfu
--------------------------------------------

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

If I had say 50 of them to clean, could I just wire tie them to the
car? And then run the car through the local automatic car wash? Misses
gets pretty mad when she comes home and the dishwasher is full of
circuit boards... Plus the drive home should get all the water off too
LOL Just joking..

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Sorry guys I've been in the electronics/computer field for 15+ years
solid state is dishwasher safe... I do blow the water out of the
sockets with compressed air after the rinse cycle

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Checking fuses

CPU

taking out cpu

replacing battery holder
replacing 0 Ohm resistors for language settings with Dip Switch
New rom version.

PDB:

Replace burned GI haeaders

DMD Controller:

Replace 5W 4K7 resistor at the bottom of the board and mount it farther away from
the PCB. If it looks burned I replace the whole section.
The resistor is monted too near the pcb and is in my opionion responsible for 50%
of all driver failures. Get's too hot, burns the boards and other parts around
suffer because of this.


On 23 Jun 2005 06:37:42 -0700, trick72@graffiti.net wrote:

>>Hi,
>>When you do a thorough shop job to a newly bought WPC game, apart from
>>cleaning every component, what are the various actions that you do for
>>your system boards in the head of the game? I know about checking
>>fuses, but are there other things on your check-list for the system
>>boards when you shop your machine?
>>Thanks
>>


Regards
Frank-Rainer Grahl
(frgrahl@REMOVE.ME.gmx.net)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Fred Kemper wrote:
> YIKES! Vacuums and dishwashers OH MY!!!!!
>
> (PLEASE! Just _leave_them _alone_ if they work.)

__EXACTLY!!!__ There are some places where it absolutely DOES NOT PAY
to be anal, and this is one of them!

With that said, if a game is super dusty, I'll hit it with compressed
air. But that's relatively safe.



As for the original question, in general I use the idea that if it's
not broken, don't fix it. I _will_ go ahead and a lot of times replace
the GI sections, just because I know I'll probably be doing it in the
future.

But even things like br2 replacements and trace jumping I do _only_ if
the game needs it. Of course, once I'm in there, if I'm replacing br2
I'll replace br1, double up the traces, etc. But if I don't have a
reason to pull the board, I don't invent one.