face in palm sk1 destruction (but there is hope!)

[noob666]

Hey guys, new here!

So... I managed to rip out the two wires that go from the batteries to the circuit board (I swear I wasn't being rough those things seemed to me like they were in bad shape!)

First the black wire came off a couple days ago, but when I held it to the solder point where it broke off (with a little piece of the wire still sticking out it would turn on and everything worked) then today I went back to it and simply holding it there like I did when I first broke it had I different effect, it would power up but it wouldn't function properly it would just make a crazy noise, so I took some alligator clips and clipped the solder point to the wire. This worked fine, my old baby (i've have the thing since I was around 8 years old) powered on just fine.

Haha this is the funny part (well at least I think it's kinda funny) so tonight I tried a sketchy soldering maneuver to put the broken black wire back on the solder point (sketchy because I have no idea what I am doing and I have never soldered anything in my life) so without going into detail about my silly attempt to get the wire back on there in the process of trying to do that I broke off the other wire.

So, my question is should I heat up the solder that is already on the board and just kind of stick the wires back into the two blobs where they originally were or should I do something else? I have a feeling maybe I should find a way to get that solder off and then go in and solder the wires back together.

Sorry if I dragged that out for way to long I could have probably summed that up into a really short question. my bad 

[noob666]

ALSO: when I was a young lad I broke the sampling feature some how yet another bummer! Any chance of fixing that?

another thing is I have another sk1 that is broke (I didn't break this one) checked the innards and with my little knowledge of electronics couldn't seem to give it a diagnosis, any revival methods you guys know of that a noob is capable of trying out?

thanks benders! (isn't that a nickname British people gave homosexuals?)

[samspike]

My suggestion would be

(a) practise soldering on something else before attempting on your beloved device

(b) remove the solder from the board first. You can get a solder sucker. Heat the blob and then suck up as much as you can using the sucker.

(c) Then solder the battery wire back to its correct position - note - if the wire is a tight fit, barely long enough, you don't have to use the original wire.

If you do this - first remove original wire (making sure you know where it went), then get  a new wire slightly longer, prepare both ends (remove insulation  and tin ends), and solder new wire in place


For the sampler - I have no idea what the problem is (I don't have an SK-1), but you might want to check it's not something simple and obvious, like the wires to the microphone being yanked out.  If you have two SK-1's compare the two in such areas, and you may spot the problem.

[noob666]

thanks for the advice! I knew I was jumping the gun by trying to solder it back on there, I just wanted to get going on the damn thing, I guess I should start out on a cheap toy before trying to fix my old buddy with hot pointy things.

[Circuitbenders]

Well everybody has to start somewhere, but if you don't know how to solder i'd stay away from the SK until you have some vague idea of what you're doing. They aren't getting any cheaper  

To solder the wires back onto the board strip the insulation from the wire back about 3mm or so, flow some solder onto the end of the bare wire (this is called tinning the wire, heat the bare wire first and then allow the solder to melt onto the WIRE and not the soldering iron), heat up the solder on the board and when it melts push the tinned wire into the melted solder and hold it and the soldering iron there for about a second or so until the solder on the wire melts into the solder on the board. Pull the iron away and hold the wire ijn place for a couple of seconds until the joint goes solid again.

Make absolutely sure you have the power wires in the right place!

Diagnosing faults like this on a forum is next to impossible but i's be willing to bet that the sampling issue is down to something obvious like the mic wires coming loose or dodgy buttons. Can you sample from the line in?

And yes, 'benders' is UK slang for homosexuals. Imagine the constant hilarity i endure as a professional bender? Oh yes, its a laugh riot    

[samspike]

Yea don't start with something hard to replace. Practice on an old toy that you're happy to destroy, or get yourself down to Maplins and buy one of the 5-10 quid electronic kits (like heart beat monitor, or LED signs, or walking bugs, whatever) and practise soldering by making that.

[samspike]

Re: preparing wire.

I always find it easy to strip more insulation from the end of the wire, say 15-20mm. Then tin the end, then trim it down using small wire cutters. This way, I can easily make the tinned end into a narrow fine point of the exact length wanted (for some jobs you only want a few mm of tinned wire exposed, for others you want more).

Do it on a bunch of lengths of wire, and it's another soldering thing you can practise (and if you make the wires of various practical lengths, these wires are not wasted but can be saved for future use).

Of course, if you use technique on the SK1, and the existing wire is already barely long enough, this is when I'd suggesting replacing it entirely.

[Ciderfeks]

I find that keeping the end of the hot soldering iron clean and freshly tinned (applying a small amount of solder to the tip of the soldering iron) is also useful.

Replacing the power leads from the battery terminals to the board, especially on some of the cheaper toys is almost inevitable as the very flimsy ones rarely survive the bending process. You might find that photographing your board before you start can be helpful for remembering where things are supposed to go amongst your added wires...

My circuit bent Speak & Spell was turned into a software instrument by Soniccouture. In their blurb about it they describe me as "a keen bender from Brighton". Funny. Sooo very funny...

[jamiewoody]

isn't hard to do...it seems like for something like the battery supply, casio could have used a better gage wire...