Hacking First cut legs Wii

[Redsquirrel]

Ive done about 20 of the normal Wiis but someone asked me to do theirs, i knew it would have the legs cut but i also assumed it would be the new 2DC (sp) model and i wouldnt be able to do it.

Anyway this thing is crazy. I have grinded down to the traces on the chip, but even so its so tiny. Ive spent a good 3 hours trying - i just cant get anything to solder to the traces or even rebuilding the legs seems problematic. Nothing is damaged or anything, im pretty careful like that. But I'm running out of ideas.

If worst comes to worst, ill send it back and say sorry I couldnt do it - but id rather get it done considering how much time ive spent on it so far.

What would people reccomend I should spend my time doing - rebuild the legs or solder to the traces? Any tips? With rebuilding it is hard to not make a small mistake and connect to the leg next to it etc

Anyway im going out and taking a break from it for an hour or two. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

In either case this is the last cut wii i am going to do! lol

 

[Hooya]

Soldering to the traces is easier for me. You NEED flux to do this kind of job. Solder simply will not stick to the traces or the nubs without it.

Tips:

Tin your wire really well. User soldering iron tip cleaner to clean the wire and iron tip if you need to.
Solder the other end of the wire to the modchip first, that way you don't have to touch and move the wire so much after you get it stuck on the drive chip.
Once your wire is tinned apply flux to the spot of exposed trace.
Do not try to run the wire over the top of the chip like you might have seen, as it can be more difficult to get a solid connection. Go away from the chip like the legs of the chip would.
Put the tinned tip of wire on the spot you've fluxed. Make sure it's coming in direct contact with the trace. Touch the iron to the wire for just half a second. You will burn away some flux. Hopefully that will be enough, but if you put too much flux on you might need to do that again to get the position right and get a good connection to solder.
Don't hold the iron to the wire longer than half a second. You can very easily ruin the drive chip with excess heat, so be very careful about that.

Once the wire is in place use a bit of electrical tape to stick the wire to the board so it doesn't move around. I suggest working with the chip above the spot you're soldering to like this:

________
| Â Â Â |
| Â Â Â |
|____* _|

Where the * is the dremeled part of the chip. That's the orientation to work on if that wasn't already obvious. If you're right handed work left to right, if you're left handed work right to left.

If the connection isn't strong enough to last to the point where you tape the wire down it's not a good enough connection.

Good luck. I totally feel your pain and know about crossed-eye syndrome!

 

[Redsquirrel]

Unfourtunatly I have given up. I spent another hour on it and it really is too risky for me to do anymore. Infact Im sure the track to the right has slightly connected to the cut pin next to it - the whole machine works fine though.

I have told him my apologises and to perhaps ask someone else to do it.

I won't be touching a cut leg machine again!!