# How do I fix a burnt PCB trace



## Bam79 (Nov 29, 2013)

*Hi guys I have seen several posts with really bad pcb fried and they had still been salvaged.

I would like some advice on soldering mine back to health. I think I will need to trace it too with some guidance 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			



*


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## Solaris17 (Nov 29, 2013)

Fucking jesus dude I guess the first thing you need to do it clean all of that up

After you do that take some clear nail polish and re cover the singed part here






That tan section.

next you would need to find the two ends of the trace hopefully it is not multi layer.

After that ideally you need to fill that with something resin or epoxy and make sure it is VERY smooth.

then take something like a tooth pick and make a VERY fine line to the 2 contact points.

After you have done this you need to sand off the 2 ends of the trace so you can re-create the connection the easiest is a bit of sandpaper glues to a Q-tip carefully sand the enamel off until you have the golden trace showing. then take some alcohol on your q-tip and clean it.

After this take a circuit wrighter pen or a defogger repair kit pen and re draw the trace via the groove you made in the epoxy or resin.

Test it.

if it tests fine use nail polish again to seal the trace ends and the trace line you drew

test again

if it tests good for you.

if it doesnt you will have to find the ends clean them sand them and re solder a base to the trace and then use a wire to jump it.

the bitg issue is that their might be more then 1 trace (2sides PCB) that was damaged and in even worse cases it is a multi layer so you could have broken more then a few connections that ran under that layer.


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## W1zzard (Nov 29, 2013)

Solaris17 said:


> take a circuit wrighter pen or a defogger repair kit pen



Really! Use that. I remember, many years ago, I spent like half a day trying to solder a thin piece of wire to a motherboard to fix a damaged trace. Damaged the trace even more with the heat of the soldering iron.


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## Bugler (Nov 30, 2013)

W1zzard said:


> Really! Use that. I remember, many years ago, I spent like half a day trying to solder a thin piece of wire to a motherboard to fix a damaged trace. Damaged the trace even more with the heat of the soldering iron.



I used to repair traces with wires, no problem. Tin the trace and the wire first.


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## Kursah (Nov 30, 2013)

W1zzard said:


> Really! Use that. I remember, many years ago, I spent like half a day trying to solder a thin piece of wire to a motherboard to fix a damaged trace. Damaged the trace even more with the heat of the soldering iron.


+1


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## de.das.dude (Dec 1, 2013)

first identify why the fuck the pc got burnt in the first place. then repair it. else the repair will be useless


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## qubit (Dec 1, 2013)

de.das.dude said:


> first identify why the fuck the pc got burnt in the first place. then repair it. else the repair will be useless


Yup, what this troublemaker said. 

It's very likely there's a duff component there that pulled the overcurrent in the first place. And finding it may not be too easy if everything looks normal. Could easily be that chip, in which case, you'll need a new logic board, so don't waste your time.

What is that device anyway? Looks like an optical drive of some sort. If it's a DVD drive then just spend the little money it costs to get a new one.


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## de.das.dude (Dec 1, 2013)

qubit said:


> Yup, what this troublemaker said.
> 
> It's very likely there's a duff component there that pulled the overcurrent in the first place. And finding it may not be too easy if everything looks normal. Could easily be that chip, in which case, you'll need a new logic board, so don't waste your time.
> 
> What is that device anyway? Looks like an optical drive of some sort. If it's a DVD drive then just spend the little money it costs to get a new one.


you lookin' for some trouble, sonny?  

yes it does look like an OD and there is a good chance the motor or the chip has blown.


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## itsakjt (Dec 2, 2013)

I have repaired numerous PCBs with burnt traces even of a desktop motherboard near the PLL chip. They still work till now.
@OP- True money can buy everything but repairing stuff can be challenging and there's an eternal happiness doing that. I fixed a calculator that had damaged traces(broken due to bad chassis design, scratched circuits), a motherboard, a speaker amplifier and what not! Used very thin wires or a single or pair of copper threads. The damage you got on that PCB will take hardly 15 mins for me to fix. But try to figure out the culprit. If it was damaged due to basic short circuit due to bad installation, re-tracing the circuit will make it new. If there's a component because of which it burnt, you will have to identify it first.


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