So recently, my microSD FPC connector pins somehow fell off of my switch's motherboard. After looking up a few things, I found that it was fairly common and should just take it to my local solder shop. So I get there, and as I'm walking in, my brother (He went with me to pick up food) notices a sign they have for a phone battery replacement. $100. One hundred U.S. dollars. Yikes.
Ignoring the red flag of a sign, I walked up to the counter and waited a bit for someone to actually show up. I explained the situation to them, told them I already had the replacement parts, and while I could theoretically do it myself, I'd feel more safe if a professional were doing it (I've never soldered before, but am interested in learning how. I have everything required except for the micro soldering iron). The guy looks at me and says, "Yeah, we'll probably only charge you about $300 for soldering labor." $300?? And what "labor" is involved with a (according to multiple videos I saw online) 5-10 minute job where everything you need save the actual soldering iron is provided??
So I nope out of there and call up my friend who knows someone who works for a soldering company and he says he'll do it for $60. Nice. So he comes over and everything goes fine, he knows exactly what he's doing, how to do it, and how long it will take. But then, the guy who knew him repositions his leg and it hits the guy as he's soldering. He just slowly turns towards him and is like "bro what the fuck did you just do?"
He then explains to me that he made him pretty much evaporate the capacitor powering the reader, making it useless. He also tells me that because it's a plastic board and he's already applied so much heat to it that he thinks that it'll become unusable if he applies any more. And since my switch is modded, I won't be able to buy a new one without losing access to all the mods I organized (I made my own ginormous MK8 and SSBU modpacks). The dude soldering apologized a bunch, but my friend didn't say A WORD. He only said sorry when the guy made him.
So that's the story of how I lost my modded switch, which will probably make me finally buy a steam deck because it has more capabilities anyways. But from now on, I'm not letting ANYBODY sit or stand next to a soldering guy. I don't even know who even would considering it's already a precise job and involves literally melting iron, but I whatever.
Ignoring the red flag of a sign, I walked up to the counter and waited a bit for someone to actually show up. I explained the situation to them, told them I already had the replacement parts, and while I could theoretically do it myself, I'd feel more safe if a professional were doing it (I've never soldered before, but am interested in learning how. I have everything required except for the micro soldering iron). The guy looks at me and says, "Yeah, we'll probably only charge you about $300 for soldering labor." $300?? And what "labor" is involved with a (according to multiple videos I saw online) 5-10 minute job where everything you need save the actual soldering iron is provided??
So I nope out of there and call up my friend who knows someone who works for a soldering company and he says he'll do it for $60. Nice. So he comes over and everything goes fine, he knows exactly what he's doing, how to do it, and how long it will take. But then, the guy who knew him repositions his leg and it hits the guy as he's soldering. He just slowly turns towards him and is like "bro what the fuck did you just do?"
He then explains to me that he made him pretty much evaporate the capacitor powering the reader, making it useless. He also tells me that because it's a plastic board and he's already applied so much heat to it that he thinks that it'll become unusable if he applies any more. And since my switch is modded, I won't be able to buy a new one without losing access to all the mods I organized (I made my own ginormous MK8 and SSBU modpacks). The dude soldering apologized a bunch, but my friend didn't say A WORD. He only said sorry when the guy made him.
So that's the story of how I lost my modded switch, which will probably make me finally buy a steam deck because it has more capabilities anyways. But from now on, I'm not letting ANYBODY sit or stand next to a soldering guy. I don't even know who even would considering it's already a precise job and involves literally melting iron, but I whatever.
