Help with a curcuit board needed

[bloobloo]

Hi, not sure where this needs posting but here goes - I am looking for someone to solder a tiny part onto a circuit board for me, but don't know where to start looking for someone to do this.
It would need someone with a very steady hand and some sort of magnifier to see what they are doing as it literally is only about 1mm in size. Also I don't have the part, but I would imagine the part is readily available in a place like CPC / Maplins etc, I think it is some type of resistor but I am not sure.

The thing I am trying to repair is a logic board off a trashed PS3 bluray drive, when the person trashed the drive they caught the board with a screwdriver, scratching the board and knocking this tiny thing off.

Does anyone know of anyone in the wigan area, whether it be a company or just someone who messes about with electronics who would be able to do this for me?

Kind regards

Mike

 

[the snooper]

just a suggestion but wouldnt you be better off buying a fine soldering iron from maplins and do it your self. at least that way while you still spend cash you are left with a tool at the end of it.

also if you dont have the part you wont know what it is or its value it could be a resistor or capacitor or something else. you will be stabbing in the dark and if you fit the wrong part you could end up blowing other part as a result

 

[bloobloo]

I have thought about going getting another iron, or maybe a new smaller tip for the iron i already have, but the part is that small you have to use a magnifying glass just to see it!
The part that needs sticking back on is the same as the ones arrowed in the pic I added, just smaller.

I have just been looking on Maplins website, and for £20 I could invest in a USB microscope with 200x magnification..... might just work hmmm

 

[Robotstar5]

It's called SMT - Surface Mount Technology, here's a handy guide, the bit you want is about 2 mins in.

 

[the snooper]

a 10x magnifying glass should be ok
they look like smd capacitors and you will need to know what value to put back in you could be lucky and it work

 

[bloobloo]

Thanks robostar, that vid makes it look easy with the right equipment.
Snoop, I have other boards that i could possibly take one off to put on this one, but hopefully someone will know what value they are in the shop! I should point out that the pic i included is NOT the board I am using, the capacitors are also alot smaller than those pictured, roughly about 1mm in legnth x 0.5mm wide max.
Due to them being so small there is no reference number printed on the board either. I have even thought about just bridging the gap with a blob of solder, but knowing my luck it will totally wreck everything else too!

 

[the snooper]

the guys in the parts shop wont have a clue of its value unless they have the shematics for what ever it is.
and i wouldnt advise bridging the gap if it were possible to do that there wouldnt have been a componant there in the first place

 

[gridley51]

You could ask this lot here.They are cnc techs but do board repairs sometimes.They`re in Wigan so nothing to lose just walking in and asking if they can help you.I only know the boss to speak to on the phone but he`s always been helpful.

http://www.a-tec-systems.co.uk/index.html

 

[Wedg1e]

If it's a similar brown colour to those in the pic they are indeed capacitors. You will have a slight problem if you don't know the required value, probably stripping another unit would be the quickest way to find this out.
Despite their small size it is usual for them to carry a code indicating the capacitance value; usually in the form of 3 digits like 103 or 224. These would equate to 10,000 PicoFarads or 220,000pf respectively - but picofarads in turn are subdivisions of nanofarads and microfarads, so what you'd ask for would be more like 10nf or 0.22microfarad (uF).

Conversion chart here:
http://www.unitconversion.org/unit_converter/electrostatic-capacitance.html

Now, depending on where it is in the circuit, the required value will be more or less critical. If it's just performing supply decoupling it'll be like a barn door, which makes it easier, but if it's in a filter or timing circuit then it's a whole lot more critical.
Handily, for supply decoupling, there's an almost worldwide standard of 0.1uF (marked 104) - in fact, it's so common a part that it's often not marked at all and you can look around a PCB and spot all the decoupling caps by this simple means.
You might even be very lucky: have you tried the thing? It could be that if it's just knocking spikes off a supply rail that it'll actually work OK even with the capacitor missing.
You will need a 0.5mm tip on an iron of probably 18W or less for SMD (surface-mount) work - and an anti-static wrist strap to earth is never a bad idea when working on boards with microprocessors.

 

[bloobloo]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks Wedg1e for explaining it in such detail, I have just took a couple of pics of the problem board itself to show you. it shows the scratch and if you look carefully, it shows where the capacitor should be. the white ribbon connector that the tracks go to is for connecting the bluray laser to the board, I have already tried it and although the ps3 recognises the logic board, the lasers dont fire up at all. I know the lasers do work though because i have tried another logic board on the bluray drive and they both light up when a disk is detected, one blue, one red.
1st pic shows the full board, red arrow points to where cap should be

2nd pic is an attempted close up trying to show more of the damaged area and capacitors.
there are probably about 50 capacitors on the board all identical with no numbers, and its one of these thats missing.
thanks to everyone so far, all your help is very much appreciated.

 

[the snooper]

have you had a look with a good magnifying glass to check for other damage to the board cause by the screw driver some of the copper circuit could need bridging to join back together

 

[rikrobson]

These types of board don't stand up well to physical abuse.
Just replacing the missing cap may not rectify the problem. The boards are multi layered and also don't like being soldered as the heat can damage the intermediate layers. They are soldered in the factory using ovens with accurate temp to control the flow of the solder paste.

Also the IC's involved are susceptible to Static discharge. This means they should be handled in a static free environment and not put on a bit of rug to take a photo.

You may just get a board that doesn't work into a board that still doesn't work or will have intermittent faults on.

 

[bloobloo]

Snoop, yes I've checked for other damage along the scratch, luckily it seems to have just scored the green paint. i borrowed my daughters toy microscope to check it further and i was quite surprised at the detail that i could see. next to where the cap is missing is a square solder pad which has been mangled too, but comparing it to the "good" board it has nothing on it anyhow, so hopefully it has got away without any further damage.
Rik, I understand what you're saying but its something i really don't have a choice in repairing. Sony in their infinite wisdom decided that the logic boards should be "married" to the PS3 mainboard, meaning that I cant just go and throw another board in it as it just will not work, Without this board working the PS3 is basically just an expensive Hd movie downloader and big doorstop.

 

[bloobloo]

Hey! just had a thought......... apparently the pairing keys are stored in the eeprom chip on these boards... if i was to take the eeprom chip off this board and put it on the other "good" board would that mean i would have more or less the original board back up n running?
Ps....... can anyone identify the chip(s) i need to swap over??

 

[rikrobson]

I'd put money on them being manufactuerd blank and then the boards burned together if the chip ids have to match.
A little cap like that isn't going to be critical as they are usually just decoupling caps. I'd check continuity on the tracks first as some of these may be broken. also why was it taken apart in the first place before the board was damaged?

 

[bloobloo]

The reason it was taken apart (not by me) was it developed the yellow light of death. when this happens any disk in the drive is stuck due to the fact it cant be turned on due to the ylod. The person whose console it was decided to rip the drive apart instead of just undoing 4 screws! I have fixed the YLOD so now just need to fix the drive to make it all work as it should.
Not sure how the boards are manufactured, all I know is that you definatley can't just swap one to another.... which is a pity.