Electronics repairers? We need someone good...

[Munkul]

We have a laser shaft aligning system at work, which is obsolete and no longer supported by the manufacturer. It works fine, or at least it did... someone accidentally destroyed the pins in the receiver cable plug when packing it away.
We're ordering a new unit (£10k!) but still want the old one repaired if possible.
Pruftechnik are not interested.
We tried a local spot who said they could do it, but they came back with

I am sorry to say we have had little luck with the Level unit, pic attached of the socket which as you can see has been well engineered by the Germans to ensure no one was going to repair it.
As you can see in the picture it is not a socket with wires soldered to it but an assembly with a flat flexible cable. To make matters worse, silicone rubber was poured onto it after fixing into the head. Unless the manufacturers, Pruftechnik A.G., offer to sell this assembly, which is highly unlikely, we have no chance of repairing this.

It looks like a very small 8 pin plug/socket like this
https://cpc.farnell.com/pro-signal/...PING&s_kwcid=AL!5616!3!224645161149!!!network}!833283892246!&gclid=CjwKCAjwqeWKBhBFEiwABo_XBmd85-EatNt26ln7b7OKLjZXE_eHBCJTJl0-Sr1hAQ5iIHhh7NnJPRoCHssQAvD_BwE

The hard part is the ribbon cable, as you can see the traces are shaped to the socket head.

Does anyone know anywhere who would be able to repair this? Basically replace this entire assembly from scratch and also the cable end plug. It doesn't look super complicated, once you have a suitable ribbon cable, and IMO you could probably squeeze in an old IDE style cable or something in there which would work just as well. It doesn't have to be OEM, it just has to work.

Cost isn't a problem really, as long as the work is good.

 

[Dev]

The straight end of the ribbon cable goes into a plug on a pcb. another one of those on a board that breaks out the 8 pins, traces them to pads that the connector is through hole soldered into. Eliminates the only unusual part - the looped ribbon.

I would contact this guy and see what he says https://www.mottramlabs.com/about.html
i only know him as a customer but he is worth asking. It may be i’m talking a load of old tosh and because of signal loss it has to be the way it is but worth a punt.

 

[EM1L4]

I suspect the repairers you first sent it to didn’t want to risk damaging it. If it were mine i’d have scraped the sealant around the socket with a scalpel and if that failed/damaged the ribbon i’d cut back the ribbon and scrape off the plastic so I could solder some wires directly to the ribbon and then connect these to a new socket. That’s if I couldn’t find a ribbon/wire breakout/something better that fits into the ribbon socket. Also can the board the ribbon is plugged into be removed? Might be possible to remove the ribbon all together and replace the ribbon socket with a wire type socket or even solder the wires directly to the PCB… That’s if it was my equipment, I can see why some wouldn’t want to risk bigger damage.

 

[ChrisBailey]

If the plug isnt custom and can be found on RS or something, you could get a prototype PCB house to print a new ribbon and mount the plug to it.
You would need to find somebody to copy the ribbon and plug in a pcb layout program.
I havent ever done it personally but I work with electronics engineers who make prototype pcb and sensors daily. The cost might be a few hundred pounds per assembly, being cheaper the more you want.

 

[Dev]

I mean its probably silicone so you CAN remove it. if they wanted it unifxable it’d be potting expoxy.

Making Custom PCBs is very very cheap. As in a breakout board shipped to you would be £10 for 5. Designing it is the cost but this is a 3 part assembly. Round socket, board, idc connector.

 

[JMS1972]

The Chinese PCB companies can make flexible boards for peanuts these days so you probably just need someone who can design you a new "board"

 

[Munkul]

I'll see how tight the housing is when if comes back to me it might physically be too tight to fit anything else in, but if not, I think a stranded ribbon cable might be the way to go.

 

[Dev]

I'll see how tight the housing is when if comes back to me it might physically be too tight to fit anything else in, but if not, I think a stranded ribbon cable might be the way to go.

Definitely an option, possibly the simplest one.

 

[daedalusminos]

Are you sure that interconnecting flexi-rigid is the only problem?

Can you share a pic of the flat connector end - I'm assuming it's a gold plated fingered edge connector on a section of rigid.

Relatively straight forward to manufacture to OEM providing the circular connector is salvageable/obtainable

 

[Seadog]

If you can buy the connector, it looks vaguely Tiny QG style, so easy to source, then it seems fairly easy to repair.

 

[gaz1]

change the plug and the ribbon to a wired system

just as good and will do the same

 

[sako243]

Have a chat with Wrekin Circuits, they'll quite happily do one offs and next day turnaround.