Copper for large grounds/power?

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Doomguy42

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Hi folks, I've got a battery damaged fruit machine Mpu I'm going to have a go at repairing.

The battery was cut off looks like a long time ago so damage is local... some parts have been totally corroded away.
I'm looking to adhere copper back on to the board for a ground/power style area. (I usually solder on repair wire to the traces direct.)
Is there anything on the market for doing this or does anyone know what sort of copper to order?
Thnx
 
I repaired a pinball CPU board that had battery damage. Here's what it looked like before removing some components,


And after,

The CPU is a 6809 and, as you can see, the diagonal tracks up to the CPU were completely corroded away. I repaired those by soldering wirewrap wire on the back of the board after replacing the components. Any intact tracks (and with micro breaks) can be soldered over. Unfortunately I didn't take (or more likely keep) any pictures of the completed board. Note that the damage is alkali damage and needs to be neutralized with acid.

Mike.
Edit, for some thicker tracks you can solder thin tinned copper wire onto the track.
 
There are some companies that make product for PCB repair.

Some of your traces could be done with wire wrap wire and Tak-Pac adhesive from Loctite.

Copper foil tape is yet another which was mentioned by 4pyros. Some, I think, are conductive on the bottom. Way back when there was a prototyping system called, I think, Cir-stik that had pads and tape of various widths.
 
Hi the traces I just solder a wire on direct to the board. It's not the board in the picture but the area in the circle has almost totally gone.
Copper tape sounds good is it bare copper on the surface? I'll have a look today
 
Doomguy42 said:
Hi the traces I just solder a wire on direct to the board. It's not the board in the picture but the area in the circle has almost totally gone.
Copper tape sounds good is it bare copper on the surface? I'll have a look today
Click to expand...
A recent board may have traces that are too fine and close to solder wire on. The board above is circa 1995 when everything was much more spread out. You mention a picture but I don't see one.

Mike.
 
Look at 3M copper foil screening tape & its clones.
It's got a conductive adhesive and solders very easily.

It's commonly sold on ebay for screening the inside of guitars.

Example:
**broken link removed**
 
3M foil tape looks exactly what I'm after! I could not buy some fast enough!

It was late last night and I didn't get a pic of the board I'm working on. It's the same as this one in the pic. The area in the circle has totally gone. This board is worked ok. But I need a solution for larger tracks and ground areas hopefully this tape will do the job.
 

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That picture is just to show the area and what I need to remake. That one is repaired.

As I say I didn't get a picture of the one I'm working on last night. 12:30am job
 
That picture is just to show the area and what I need to remake. That one is repaired.

As I say I didn't get a picture of the one I'm working on last night. 12:30am job
 

Simply using the existing thin wire will almost certainly be perfectly fine - or you could just use thicker wire if you feel the need, but I doubt there's any actual need to.
 
rjenkinsgb said:
Look at 3M copper foil screening tape & its clones.
It's got a conductive adhesive and solders very easily.

It's commonly sold on ebay for screening the inside of guitars.

Example:
**broken link removed**
Click to expand...

My wife did stained glass as a hobby fo a whhile, and that copper tape was put on both edges of the glass shapes so they could then be soldered together in to the final "picture" she was making. Can't recall of it ever coming loose from the glass when it got soldered.
 
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