[sdiy] Xpander repair help

[Jay Schwichtenberg]

Scott,

Could be the display but it could be a bad connection or broken trace on the
PCB.

When you are heating up the board things will expand and make broken traces
come together or bad connections become solider. I would give a good visual
inspection (good light and magnifier). Then if I didn't see anything I would
take something like a tooth pick (sturdy, non-conductive) and push solder
joints, PCB traces and on connectors to see if something starts to work. Be
careful and don't break anything.

Jay S.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
> [mailto:owner-synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl]On Behalf Of Scott Juskiw
> Sent: Sunday, August 22, 2004 4:28 PM
> To: synth diy
> Subject: [sdiy] Xpander repair help
>
>
> I have an Obie Xpander with two flakey displays. I've got the service
> manual, I've got a scope. All signals going to the displays are fine.
> It looks like there's an intermittent connection inside the display
> itself. If I point a heat gun at certain pins the display will work
> perfectly. But as soon as it cools, it stops working. I'm a bit stuck
> trying to figure out how to fix this. Is it possible to get
> replacement displays? I know VFDs are still being manufactured, but
> are there any drop in replacements? I couldn't find any.
>