You’re giving people shit about “professional” and “random hack shit” and you just tried to use Pepto-Bismal to anchor a piece of wire.
JFC.
No, this isn’t what the professionals do, especially not in an area of a board prone to flexing due to gamer rage.
I’ve literally used conductive paint before as a professional, because you simply cannot solder carbon traces.
I’m just no longer in the field often enough to have any reason to afford the stuff, so I was hoping for some advice to make something worthwhile as a spot or three of homemade conductive paint, not some random hack shit that’ll wear out in 6 months.
ikidd@lemmy.world 1 day ago
over_clox@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
I have over 25 years of professional electronics repair experience. This is my own device, so I’m game to think a little outside the box from time to time. You don’t learn shit if you’re not game to experiment from time to time.
Pepto Bismol contains bismuth, which like other metals, is conductive. There are videos online demonstrating people extracting the raw metal itself from Pepto. Plus the stuff dries sort of like a paint, so I figured it might be worth a try.
So I tried it, on a sample test card, so what? I didn’t know what to expect but I lost absolutely nothing by trying it on a test card.
Results: It was partly conductive while still wet, but effectively lost all conductivity once it dried out.
What did I lose? About 5 minutes of my time to set up the test card experiment. What did I gain? Knowledge, about a thing I haven’t seen tested anywhere before.
I wouldn’t dare try such oddball things in a professional shop, I’d use the right materials. Just figured I’d test something random from around the house for shits and giggles. Woulda been funny if it actually worked, but oh well.
If I really want to do a quick fix, I’ll slap down a piece of wire and piece of Kapton tape. But I would like to extend my knowledge to a better point where I don’t need to buy a $20 bottle of conductive paint to fix a single spot where I only need like 2 or 3 drops of the stuff, just figured I’d try making something up at home.
But the people offering me alternate solutions are not answering my original question. I would like to learn homebrew ways to make conductive paint similar to what the manufacturers use, both for this project and possibly other future projects. I wasn’t asking alternate ideas.
Did it ever cross your mind that maybe I’d like to be able to do repairs with materials more similar to what the manufacturer used rather than a lick-and-stick approach?
TL;DR - I’d never try such random experiments in a professional setting.
Sigh, I guess I’ll go hit up YouTube, at least some other commenters have provided links to some valid and relevant resources.
lemmyingly@lemm.ee 1 day ago
It’s 100% what professionals do to repair traces. Please don’t spread misinformation.
Hugin@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Yup the wire is going to be more tolerant of flexing than the glue or a solder joint.
over_clox@lemmy.world 1 day ago
The crack is right next to the left analog stick, in a spot that will receive random pressure and mild board flexing while in use. Sure the plastic shell is still intact and all the supports are still there, but this particular spot is still a bit of a sensitive spot.
I’m all about the idea of a little piece of patch wire, but I want to actually adhere the patch wire to the trace with a conductive paint. I don’t want to just tape a piece of wire on it, only to have the wire micro-sliding back and forth and just wearing more carbon off the board over time.
And soldering is completely out of the question, you can’t solder to a carbon trace.
Hugin@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I’d fix the mechanical with epoxy and then use a small conducive screw tapped into the exoxy as a bridge.
over_clox@lemmy.world 1 day ago
With all the proper tools and materials, I am a professional, capable of soldering traces about as thin as a human hair.
lemmy.world/post/9917691
And when it comes to carbon traces, we absolutely did use conductive paint to fix damaged traces. But now I’m more into automotive repair and just don’t happen to have any conductive paint in my home electronics repair materials.
All I was wanting was a good homebrew solution to properly patch a ~3mm damaged section of carbon trace, not some hack solution that’ll just end up wearing loose and having a bad connection within a few months of gameplay.
So I do not find your answer helpful nor professional.