I know this has been asked before but I was unable to find a solution.
I have a digital PS1 pad PCB and have shaved the majority of the black stuff off of the copper contacts. In fact, it seems I’ve hit the green PCB on a few of the contacts. However, when I try to solder the contacts, the solder just refuses to stick.
Any suggestions?
For that matter, does the copper look like copper? It was sorta like the black stuff I shaved off went straight to the green of the PCB.
Thanks!
I used some PS1 digital pads and I didnt scrape off any black stuff. I just soldered right to it and it worked great. I have only scraped stuff off of an xbox360 pad.
Maybe my Sony PS1 digital pads are different than yours?
You might have gone a little to far with the scraping…and the solder isnt sticking because it has nothing to stick on to.
If thats the case…the button wont work.
I’ll definitely give it a shot. I have a few PS1 pads laying around and I’m trying not to experiment on my PS1 DS.
Just to be clear, the PS1 controller I’m attempting to solder is one of the original original pads that came packaged with the PS1 without the analog sticks.
do you heat both surfaces enough?
had that problem at first.
yeah, what the last guy said. be sure to heat the surface before putting solder on it, that always helps. solder will ‘melt’ onto the heated contacts. I always put a spot of solder on the board contact, and then heat the wire and press it against the blob of solder and tapping the connection with the iron.
I’ll certainly give all of those suggestions a try. Thanks.
Well, despite my best efforts, I’m still unable to get the solder to stick. I think I may pull out a new PCB and have at 'er. I think the next best thing to try is to solder directly on to the black stuff and not scrape it off.
Ugh.
Before you potentially do damage to the next pcb, make sure you’re tinning the wires and the contacts before you mate them.
What are you scraping the black stuff off with? Is it still copper underneath?
Vid for the noobz
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2330178249516186731&q=how+to+solder&total=226&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=4
I scraped the stuff off of the last PCB but all it really exposed was a silverish grey surface… nothing that really resembles like copper. And whatever surface was exposed it was like it wouldn’t heat up no matter what. I don’t know if I scraped the surface too hard or what… but I’m somewhat confused.
Are you using solder flux? It makes all the difference.
The solder I’m using apparently has flux in it, but I do have flux here as well. I’ll give that a shot.
I don’t know… I don’t think I saw anything that could be soldered. I used an exactoknife to remove the black material but it just seemed like it was a smooth grey surface under the black material, and the solder just wouldn’t stick on to the grey surface.
I’ve ruined one PCB and the only option I think I have is to attempt soldering the black material itself (as suggested by TMO) on another PCB.
I don’t recommend sanding it, you could potentially block the data path, by scraping to hard. I personally cut 3/16s diameter hole, so very tiny, size of a small pin, and solder into that. Also , the black stuff, is insulated, I wouldn’t solder into it.
Ok read everything, I know exactly what is going on.
Because??!?!?!?
I had the same problem heheheh!
Okie! You didn’t scrape enough, the silver is under the black stuff, scrape gently with a screwdriver or exacto knife, until you see copper, it looks like cooper. Hit me up on aim, if you need more help. same name. The solder will not stick to the silver stuff, trust me, I learned it the hard way ;).
Ok, I just scrapped some off with a razor and I understand what you mean by smooth gray stuff. Look closely at the pcb and you will notice that the “black stuff” ain’t smooth and you can see a small circle on each button contact. That’s where the copper soldering contact is hidden and If you scrape the wrong spot, all you will see is “smooth gray stuff”.
Yes just to add, make sure you scrape exactly where the Data Channel, meets the button is should be a small circle, thats around 3/16’s in size.
Woo… I found copper. The 3/16ths suggestion worked like a fuggin’ charm. Found copper and soldered it… but I fear I damaged my PCB too extensively to test. Gonna give it a go on another PCB tonight.
Thanks everyone!
No problems, and Thanks NotaNoob81, great picture.