Say you goofed and want to start over

[Natman]

I have a Sunking that isn't working. I damaged the traces in 2 spots as I soldered a couple of parts wrong and had to make little jumpers. It is a pretty cramped board when populated!   
   
I'm no good at debugging and don't know bout audio probing, etc. However, I would like to get a new PCB and reuse as many parts as I can since they cost money and probably most of them are fine. 

Any suggestions on how to go about recovering as many parts as I can? My plan was to break the PCB little by little and desolder each component then test each one. Open to suggestions...

Thanks! 

[GermanCdn]

You're not going to like this answer, but.....

It really isn't worth the time to desolder most components.  There's less than $3.00 in passives on the Sunking, and if you figure 1 minute per component to remove, clean up and test, you're looking at an hour.  Assuming you've socketted your ICs, I'd pull the IC's, cut off the pots, maybe try and salvage the 390n cap and the 392k resistor, and toss the rest.

When I deem a board beyond hope, all I salvage are the ICs and the pots, and any specialty items that might exist (Vactrols/inductors/transformers).

[culturejam]

Desoldering will probably be more work than audio probing will be.

Honestly, I'd just scrap the whole thing and start over with new parts. I would save pots and switches and ICs, but just about everything else I would toss. Except maybe large-value film caps (say, 470n and greater).

[twin1965]

I think it's not worth the effort. Hopefully you socketed the IC's and GE diodes and can use these again. Desoldering components from fabbed boards is a PITA!

There also the probability that some components will be overheated and damaged and when you reuse them your new PCB will not work either.

Start from scratch and save yourself the hassle

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[twin1965]

Culturejam beat me to it!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[midwayfair]

No good at debugging? This is your learning opportunity.

There's the time you'll spend waiting for a new board. Then populating that board. Then testing that board. What if you make the same mistakes? You're back in the debugging booth.

There's a sticky thread that tells you how to debug a circuit and make an audio probe. There's a "What to do when it doesn't work" thread on DIYstompboxes that's extremely comprehensive. Learn how to debug a circuit now, or accept that you'll waste a lot of time and money down the line. I have to debug probably half the things I build, sometimes even the same things I've built before, and I've got quite a bit of experience. You must learn this skill.

[rullywowr]

I agree with Jon.  Debugging is invaluable.  Eventually you will hopefully start to make your own custom layouts, PCB or Vero etc... Debugging is essential to figure out where things went wrong.  Having the schematic handy and ensuring the voltages are correct at key points in the circuit, and ensuring the audio is present to a point is the way to start.  An audio probe can be made in about 30 seconds with a capacitor and a wire.  If you have no voltage on an IC leg, you know there is an issue etc.

As far as salvaging parts, these guys hit it on the head.  If you do end up with a "dud" then its worth it to pull the larger film caps, ICs, pots, and switches, LDRs, and any "fancy mojo" diodes or transistors.  Resistors, film caps under about 470n, and electro caps are so cheap its not worth my time and frustration to pull them (and I even have a nice desoldering station I use).

I agree with Jon, that even if you want to "do it right", you should try to get this PCB going even if it means "green wiring" or using jumpers to make it "go".  You will experience an "ah-HA!" moment and smile to yourself that you licked the problem.  This experience will help you on future builds.  Even if you want to build another, you will have to wait for the new PCB to come in... it's not like you can hurt this one any more than it is.  Good luck!

[playpunk]

The first board I populated, I totally screwed up. I didn't understand Cap values, and I don't think I really got resistor values either. As a matter of principle, I desoldered the whole thing (with a crappy blue solder sucker) and repopulated the whole thing.

It was totally idiotic. However I have the ugliest Green Bean build of all time now. Just order another one, or debug it.

[Natman]

Alright alright, I'll lurn. When I consider the time I waste spend on these projects, buying completed gear (used or new) starts to look more attractive!   

[upthepunxxx]

I wasn't very good at debugging either..until I watched a couple demos, read some threads and most importantly orderer the JMK testing rig. Do yourself a favor and order one of these bad boys. Its pretty basic to get up and going, and the time and money it will save you is gonna be way more than what it costs to get it up and running. I'm still no expert on debugging, but this tool from Jacob took my skills from non existent to being able to figure out the problem with a couple boards in a matter of minutes. I've said before and I'll say it again...JMK por Vida!!

Stay Punk!

[hoodoo]

Alright alright, I'll lurn. When I consider the time I waste spend on these projects, buying completed gear (used or new) starts to look more attractive!

Hey mate, this is supposed to be an enjoyable hobby, that has the added benefit of "saving" you a few bucks along the way, supposedly. Except when you buy that new drill press, soldering station, powdercoating outfit etc etc that you really needed.
If you consider it wasted time, and you are doing it to save money,you probably should play golf, or buy used gear.
It is very rewarding, for me anyhow, when something comes together well and sounds great, and........is a whole lot cheaper than the real thing, sort of 
I don't know how much experience you have with this hobby, however, everybody starts somewhere. Have you thought about trying a less ambitious build to start, that would be alot easier to debug, if this was necessary.
Or, ask for help in a different thread, with pics etc, and i'm sure that there will be alot of generous knowledgeable folk that will try to assist you in any way they can.
All the best, Matt.