Replacing Copper Foil Pad On Etched Board?

[whitebread47]

Hi folks,

Up until now I have only worked with fabbed pcbs from madbean, but am now working on one of the etched boards I got from Haberdasher.  He did a great job on them, but I botched a pad yesterday.  The copper foil must have had too much heat applied to it from the iron and it lifted the pad and a small section of the track.  What I'm wondering is if I bought some copper foil tape and meticulously cut a small piece and connected to where the one I overheated lifted, would the pad work?  It happened in a relatively isolated area, so there's little chance of it touching another track that it shouldn't.

My apologies if this is the wrong section in the forum.  I assumed the troubleshooting area was for pcbs bought directly from bean.

[sprayfe]

I've had different luck with different methods, often times just taking a small piece of resistor clipping and making a track, or using an extra bit of bent leg of whatever component I'm soldering in to complete the trace. It's no so much that it's a round pad that matters, just that it's making a connection to where it's supposed to go. Good luck! I'm sure others will have more worthwhile advice!

[whitebread47]

I've had different luck with different methods, often times just taking a small piece of resistor clipping and making a track, or using an extra bit of bent leg of whatever component I'm soldering in to complete the trace. It's no so much that it's a round pad that matters, just that it's making a connection to where it's supposed to go. Good luck! I'm sure others will have more worthwhile advice!

Thanks so much for the quick reply!  I assumed that all I needed was to make a connection, but am pretty new to this so wanted to know if my almost fully populated Yellow Shark was a lost cause or not.  I'll probably try using a resistor clipping to make a track in the morning and report the results; I hadn't thought of that.  Of course, I'm still open to reading how everyone solves this problem.

[whitebread47]

Alright, I approached the board with intentions of using a resistor clipping but could not figure out a way to make that work.  The pad and half of the short track (approx. 1/8") are gone, so I'm confused.  I guess I'll just order that copper foil tape and cut a small piece to complete the track and pad section that is missing, unless anyone has any suggestions that don't require waiting on a package.

I find my biggest enemy so far with this hobby is my own impatience!  I also find that I always forget something when I place a parts order.  Oh well, I really do enjoy soldering the components in and firing up a working pedal. 

[gtr2]

Why not just connect the components together like point to point wiring?

Let the schematic be your guide. 

You can also post a pic and we can guide you through the process.  I wouldn't do the copper foil thing FWIW.

Josh

[slimtriggers]

Why not just connect the components together like point to point wiring?

Let the schematic be your guide. 

You can also post a pic and we can guide you through the process.  I wouldn't do the copper foil thing FWIW.

Josh

^This.  Or, if you have a way to do it, drill another hole in the trace that you have left. 

Or, If you haven't already clipped the leads off whatever component you're soldering, you could just bend the lead over onto the trace and solder it there.

[whitebread47]

I'm not sure I can do point to point style, as it's a small isolated track for only one component.  I'll post a pic later today when I have time to show exactly what I've got going on and see what the best way to work around it is.  Thanks.

[whitebread47]

Alright, finally got some time to take and upload a pic.  Here's what I got (pardon some of the sloppy joints and crudely drawn arrow, I get a bit too enthusiastic at times).

[gtr2]

Ok.

Here is what I'd do.

1) Put in C4.  The leads should be long enough where you can solder the + leg in the normal pad and then stretch the - leg to "nature" pot pad 1.  Don't solder that - leg in yet.

2) When you wire up your pot take the wire going to lug 1 of the nature pot and place it in the same pad as the - leg of C4.  Make sure you tin the wire tip so it doesn't fray because it will be a tight squeeze.  Then solder the leg and wire in the same pad.

Alternate Plan) If you can't fit both in the same lug 1 pad.  Just solder in the C4 and then solder the pot 1 wire right on the - leg of C4


Josh

[whitebread47]

Thanks for the suggestion, that makes perfect sense looking at it now.  Maybe I'll learn a little something here.  I'll report back when I get a chance to solder C4 and the nature pot.  Waiting on a few 4n7 caps before I can fully populate and test it, though.

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

I've lost pads a few times and I do what Josh described. As long as you create the same junction node, it will work as supposed to.