c/electronics-repairers

Tried reflowing a GPU with a heat gun instead of an oven

I had this old Radeon card that kept artifacting, so I figured I'd try the heat gun method everyone swears by instead of my usual oven trick. Set it to 350°F and hit it for about 4 minutes, but now the thing won't even power up at all - just dead. Anybody else have a heat gun reflow go completely sideways on them?

Shoutout to the guy who told me to check capacitors before ordering a new motherboard

Spent $120 on a replacement board for a dead monitor before realizing the old one just had two bulging caps. Has anyone else thrown money at the wrong part because you skipped the simple stuff?

That time a cracked resistor taught me to check the board before the part

I was working on an old Kenmore microwave from 2003 last month. Guy brought it in saying it wouldn't heat. I spent 45 minutes testing the magnetron and the HV diode, both fine. Then I noticed a hairline crack on the board near the relay. Reflowed the joint and it worked perfect. Felt dumb for jumping to the expensive parts first. Anyone else ever waste time on a simple fix because you assumed the worst?

Rant: I used to never bother with capacitor ESR testing, now I'm a believer

I was fixing this old Samsung TV from 2012 this morning, power supply looked fine visually but it kept shutting off. My buddy who runs a repair shop in Phoenix stopped by and told me I was an idiot for just looking at bulges. He pulled out his little ESR meter and tested a cap that looked perfect, read like 30 ohms. Swapped that one cap and the TV fired right up. I always thought ESR meters were overkill for hobby stuff, but that one test saved me maybe an hour of guessing. Now I'm looking at getting a decent one, maybe the Peak Atlas or something similar. Anyone else have a similar moment where one tool totally changed how you approach repairs?

Guy tried to pay me in vintage ham radios for fixing his toaster

I had this older gentleman come into my shop in Denver last Thursday with a 1970s toaster that wasn't popping up. I fixed the solenoid in about 20 minutes, charged him $40. He pulls out this beat up CB radio from his trunk and says "this is worth way more than $40, take it instead." I told him I don't take trades but he got kinda upset, so I just took the cash and gave him a discount. Has anyone else had customers try to barter with weird electronics instead of money?

Three years back I fixed a TV for a neighbor and it started a side gig

Last week I hit my 50th repair job out of my garage in Cleveland, mostly TVs and small appliances for people in my neighborhood. It started when I swapped a capacitor on a 2019 Samsung for free, and then someone told someone else. Any other repairers find themselves accidentally running a business?

Accidentally bridged three pins on a board last week and it still worked

I was replacing a capacitor on an old Sony receiver from 1988 and my iron slipped. Ended up bridging three legs of an IC with solder. Thought I ruined it so I powered it on anyway just to see what would happen. It somehow fired up and sounds fine. Has anyone else had a repair go wrong but still come out working?

Was totally wrong about those cheap solder fume extractors

I thought spending $30 on a no-name fume extractor off Amazon would be a waste compared to the $150 Hakko unit. After 6 months of daily use on through-hole boards and small SMD work, that cheap fan is still running strong. It even survived me knocking it off the bench twice last week. The carbon filter needs changing more often, sure, but replacement packs are like $8 for a 4-pack. Has anyone else found a budget tool that actually held up better than expected?

A customer's complaint about my solder joints changed my whole approach

Some guy on a Pioneer receiver said my work looked like 'chicken scratch' and made me realize I was rushing rework too much. Now I take 3 extra seconds per joint to flow it properly and haven't had a callback since. Any of you guys run into a critique that actually made you better?

I finally listened to that old school TV repair guy about capacitors

Old timer named Ray at the surplus shop in Portland told me to always discharge CRT caps with a 10 watt resistor, not a screwdriver. I thought he was being dramatic so I used a screwdriver on an old Sony Trinitron last week. Big blue flash and it blew a chunk out of my driver tip. Ray was right and I owe him a coffee. Anyone else learn a hard lesson ignoring old repair guys?

Tried cleaning a corroded Game Boy battery terminal with plain white vinegar instead of isopropyl alcohol and it worked way better than I expected

I soaked a q-tip in regular store brand vinegar and dabbed it on the green crust on a Game Boy Pocket I picked up at a garage sale for $5, let it sit for 2 minutes, then scrubbed with a toothbrush and it came off completely without damaging the contacts like I worried it might has anyone else found vinegar better for certain types of corrosion?

Compared fixing a 2012 Samsung TV with a 2023 model

I had two TVs come in last week, a Samsung from 2012 and a newer 2023 model. The old one had a bad power supply board that I swapped out in 15 minutes for $12. The new one had a cracked screen from a minor drop, and the whole panel costs $400 plus labor. Pretty clear which one is better to fix. Anyone else getting tired of these glued-together modern sets?

Old timer in Detroit fixed my approach to caps

I was working on this 90s TV and kept getting bad solder joints on the power supply caps. Some retired guy watching me shook his head and said "you're rushing the preheat, let the board breathe." He had me set my iron to 350C and wait a full 20 seconds before touching the joint. Now I always let the board soak heat for at least 15 seconds before I start. Has anyone else gotten a simple tip like that from someone older that totally changed your work?

That one capacitor that took me 3 hours to find

I was working on an old Sony amp last Tuesday, no power at all. Checked the fuse, good. Traced the main rail, kept finding voltage drops but couldn't figure out where. Turns out it was a tiny ceramic cap that had cracked near the standby transformer, not even the big electrolytic ones I spent an hour testing. Cost me 30 cents to fix but I lost half the day digging around. Has anyone else chased a fault for way too long only to find something stupid simple?

I was dead wrong about those cheap no-name thermal pastes

For years I only used Arctic Silver or Noctua pastes on client machines. Tried a $4 tube of GD900 from Amazon on a friend's old gaming PC last week. The temps dropped 3 degrees more than my usual stuff. Has anyone else had good luck with the cheap stuff or did I just get lucky?

The shift from thru-hole to SMD components killed my entry-level repair business

I used to fix old stereo gear and arcade boards for beer money, but maybe around 2015 or so I started noticing everything coming in was surface mount and almost impossible for me to touch up without a microscope and hot air station. Now I see people bring in 5-year-old LED TVs and I have to tell them the main board is basically a throwaway, no point in fixing a soldering bridge. Is anyone else just walking away from repairs on anything newer than 2010 because the parts are too tiny and cheap to bother with?

Can we talk about how bad thermal paste mistakes still are?

I had a guy bring in a PS4 last week that was shutting down mid-game. Opened it up and someone had slapped thermal paste on like it was peanut butter on a sandwich, even got some on the pins. I swear half the repairs I see fail are just from too much paste or the wrong kind. How many times have you seen a simple paste job turn into a mess?

Wasted $150 on a cheap soldering station from Amazon last spring

It melted down on my third board repair and took a vintage amp trace with it - anyone else had a budget iron fail on a delicate job?

Can we talk about desoldering wick width? I wasted so much time

I was using 2mm wick for everything for like 3 years straight. Finally tried 1.5mm on a tight IC pin last Tuesday and it sucked up the solder in one go instead of me holding the iron there for 10 seconds. Felt so dumb but hey, learned something new. Anyone else have a 'why didn't I try this earlier' moment with a specific tool size?

The moment my soldering iron tip turned black and I knew

I spent 3 years cleaning my soldering iron tip with a dry sponge and thought the black crud was just normal wear. Last week at a shop in Austin, a tech showed me how tinning the tip after every joint keeps it shiny and works way better. Has anyone else gone years without realizing they were missing a basic step like that?

TIL flux core wire makes backyard welding way easier than stick for thin metal

I was fighting with 1/8 inch steel on a trailer repair last weekend, switching between stick rods and getting nothing but burn-through, then grabbed a buddy's flux core setup and ran a clean bead in like 10 minutes flat. Has anyone else found certain jobs just click with one process over the other? I'm thinking of picking up a cheap machine for small auto body stuff.

Remembering the first time I saw a board swap at a repair meet in Austin

It was about eight years ago at a small meetup in a library basement. A guy was fixing a laptop by just replacing the whole main board, which felt like cheating to me back then. Now, with parts so cheap and time so tight, I do it all the time to get things out the door faster. Does anyone else miss the old days of hunting for a single bad capacitor, or is it just me?

Just realized I've fixed over 500 cracked iPhone back glass panels

I was cleaning out my bench drawer and counted all my old adhesive frame templates. It hit me that each one was a phone I'd saved from the trash, mostly iPhone 12 and 13 models. Anyone else have a weirdly specific repair they've done a ton of without even noticing?

Was reading an old repair manual from the 80s and saw a CRT TV schematic that needed a 25,000 volt power supply... that's just wild to think about now.

Remember when you had to choose between a new board or a full reflow station?

About five years back, I had a stack of old game consoles with bad solder joints. The choice was buying a new main board for each one, which would have cost over $300 total, or investing in a Hakko FR-301 rework tool. I went with the Hakko, and it paid for itself in two months by fixing six PS3s alone. It felt like getting back a lost skill, bringing things back to life instead of just swapping parts. Anyone else make a tool buy that changed how you approach a common fix?