SDS-9 repair
2014-01-16 by Malte Rogacki
Hi everyone;
I recently aquired an SDS-9 in defective state. Apart from two broken pots
it appears to crash its software frequently (it only starts up on occasion).
Anyway, after taking it apart there seems to be a lot of "rot" or corrosion
around several IC's; most notably the processor (and also a couple of other
chips). Interestingly this is definitely NOT coming from the battery (which
is located pretty much across the board). There is no clear pattern which
IC's are affected; some are close to openings (so in theory it could be
spilled liquids) but others are not.
While it is clear to me that I probably need to swap at least the processor
and perhaps a couple of other chips I certainly would like to find out what
causes this. Not all the corrosion seems to be really aggressive; around
some IC's it's a bit like a white residue. I remember seeing something
similar in an SDS-8. Could this be flux or flux removal gone wrong?
Last but not least: I think the Simmons enclosures are pretty good
contenders for "worst mechanical design" in terms of disassembling and
assembling. The SDS-8 was pretty bad and the SDS-9 is not much different...
I recently aquired an SDS-9 in defective state. Apart from two broken pots
it appears to crash its software frequently (it only starts up on occasion).
Anyway, after taking it apart there seems to be a lot of "rot" or corrosion
around several IC's; most notably the processor (and also a couple of other
chips). Interestingly this is definitely NOT coming from the battery (which
is located pretty much across the board). There is no clear pattern which
IC's are affected; some are close to openings (so in theory it could be
spilled liquids) but others are not.
While it is clear to me that I probably need to swap at least the processor
and perhaps a couple of other chips I certainly would like to find out what
causes this. Not all the corrosion seems to be really aggressive; around
some IC's it's a bit like a white residue. I remember seeing something
similar in an SDS-8. Could this be flux or flux removal gone wrong?
Last but not least: I think the Simmons enclosures are pretty good
contenders for "worst mechanical design" in terms of disassembling and
assembling. The SDS-8 was pretty bad and the SDS-9 is not much different...