Hacking Question about fluxing "nubs"

[pbskidz]

So it has been relatively simple to rebuild my IC legs as far as getting them lined up nicely and getting the wire to stick to the bottom pad, but I can't get the wire to stick to the little nub. The three legs were cut flush to the chip so it is extremely hard to get the wire to stick to them. For this reason, I fluxed my wire and tinned it and thought that would be enough. But it is not sticking so I thought that I should flux the nub itself as well. But I have a question about how to do this. Is it ok to cover the entire working area in flux? As in the three nubs...or do I have to apply a little bit of flux to each individual nub?

 

[wiimii]

i would think it would be better to add it to each "nub" as you say seperately but , i had a hard time with that so i just soldered to traces after i shaved the chip down instead of rebuilding the ic legs. its up to you but it works both the same , i think your best bet is to flux the nub and a tiny bit at the end of the leg and quickly tap it on all 3 points , let us know how you get on

 

[ziddey]

I dumped flux over the entire area so that I couldn't even see anything. It helped keep things situated as well. It'll cook off.

 

[pbskidz]

Yeah I figured I would just put flux over the entire working area seeing how it is not conductive. I'm gonna file my soldering tip down and tin the nubs and traces a little as well. Ill post some pictures since I just got a 100mm macro lens for my canon rebel xt.

 

[lenselijer]

i put solder on all 3 nubs and then solder with awg30 wire. then i cut them off at the same height of the original pins, works fine.

before i kept the wires a little longer, but i got 2 people coming back because one wire came loose

 

[pbskidz]

Ok thanks for the tip, I'm just a little scared when cutting them because I dont want those wires comming loose. Hopefully Ill have enough time tomorrow to do this dang thing.

i put solder on all 3 nubs and then solder with awg30 wire. then i cut them off at the same height of the original pins, works fine.

before i kept the wires a little longer, but i got 2 people coming back because one wire came looseÂ

 

[lenselijer]

you have to cut them very careful, but if it comes loose you know it was not soldered OK. so you just have to do one wire again.

 

[Hooya]

Yeah I figured I would just put flux over the entire working area seeing how it is not conductive. I'm gonna file my soldering tip down and tin the nubs and traces a little as well. Ill post some pictures since I just got a 100mm macro lens for my canon rebel xt.

Flux is conductive enough to mess up your install if there is some left over after you get your wires soldered. Once everything is in place take a toothbrush with some rubbing alcohol and clean the area you used flux on. Trust me, many people have had issues with the modchip working after these installs and it was due to the flux causing shorts. I'm not joking with you, clean your area after soldering.

 

[lenselijer]

myself i never use flux, just solder is enough if you got some skills.

i modded a leh133 last night, cut pins of course, and modded fine.
it also had one pad missing that the wiikey uses (the most number 3 in the wiikey diagram)
luckily the pin was not cut from the chipset so it was easy to solder a wire to the pin

 

[pbskidz]

ok ill clean up after I finish, Ill get some pictures up here when im finished.

 

[obv]

Yeah I figured I would just put flux over the entire working area seeing how it is not conductive. I'm gonna file my soldering tip down and tin the nubs and traces a little as well. Ill post some pictures since I just got a 100mm macro lens for my canon rebel xt.


Flux is conductive enough to mess up your install if there is some left over after you get your wires soldered. Once everything is in place take a toothbrush with some rubbing alcohol and clean the area you used flux on. Trust me, many people have had issues with the modchip working after these installs and it was due to the flux causing shorts. I'm not joking with you, clean your area after soldering.

this is true, a lot of people say flux is not conductive but in many cases ive seen excess flux prevent chips from working

 

[pbskidz]

Wow I can't get the wire to stick to them, has anyone else here ever rebuilt the legs without stubs like mine. I mean you can see them but they are cut flush with the chip, literally nothing sticking out. I was thinking that I could get the tinned wire to stick but gosh, there is nothing there, and I'm not about to go grinding away at my chip like a dumb ass either.

 

[ziddey]

you're a nub!!

just kidding. but seriously, i've worked with 2 cut leg d2b's. the first one i dremeled but it actually had the legs sticking out a little bit. so the second time i figured i'd rebuild it, but it was practically flush. took me about 5 hours because i am a nub, but it's doable. lots of flux. it helped me by having long wires without the sheath removed, and taping them to the chip and bending them downwards with your hands / tools to get them aligned. then work left to right.

 

[wiimii]

Wow I can't get the wire to stick to them, has anyone else here ever rebuilt the legs without stubs like mine. I mean you can see them but they are cut flush with the chip, literally nothing sticking out. I was thinking that I could get the tinned wire to stick but gosh, there is nothing there, and I'm not about to go grinding away at my chip like a dumb ass either.

you could bypass building the legs back up and {do like i did, quite risky though} get a sharp blade and slowly but surely scrape away at the d2b chipset, to reveal enough trace to solder wires to and then connect the other ends of wire directly to the chip

or

pay someone to do it .

 

[pbskidz]

Thanks ziddey, I never thought of fitting it perfect and taping it, that makes allot more since than holding it in place with my hand haha. Yeah, I'm not scraping at the chip no matter what the tool is, and I'm not paying someone else, wheres the fun in that?

Do you guys use a magnifying glass? I tried using one but I like to have my face up close to what I'm working with.

 

[ziddey]

I didn't use a magnifying glass. And while taping it on does make it a lot better (shaky hands, etc), it's still no easy job. Not to be insulting, but if you're a novice (I am as well), you'll probably still bridge one leg to another after you go to do another one. It happened to me so many times, and if you don't suffer through that, you're way better than I am

. Also, it appeared I had perfectly rebuilt legs, but in actuality, they weren't making proper contact with the nubs still.

So it'd be helpful to not assemble the wii right away. I had to test around 5 times before I finally had it working.

 

[pbskidz]

I have no problem with bridging them, what I have problems with is the heat from the iron will melt the solder on the rebuilt leg next to it and it will fall out of place. But each time I eff up and try again I get better, while I am a novice at rebuilding IC pins, I have worked with smds and repairing tiny traces on controllers and such so I'm comfortable with small things . I haven't been using the tape method, instead I use a straight wire and hold it up with my hand. Also, I have one connected right now, but i'm not sure if it is making contact to the nub. What should I look for when testing these with a multimeter, and what mode should I put my multimeter in?

 

[ziddey]

hmm I'm not sure. I recall reading somewhere that you might be able to get some resistance measuring between the leg and either ground or vcc.

 

[pbskidz]

what mode do I put my multimeter on..haha I just got it and Ive never used one before. I don't get what I would put the positive on and what I would put the negative on.

 

[ziddey]

what mode do I put my multimeter on..haha I just got it and Ive never used one before. I don't get what I would put the positive on and what I would put the negative on.

no matter.