Re: Tempest

I know this is way old, but I'm just going to chime in and say that a soldering iron and solder sucker work fine and are a totally reasonable way to start. I've socketed a few chips on Asteroids PCBs, and it's been fine.

Clip the legs of the component you're removing and remove it. Tin the soldering iron tip, grab the leg with pliers or clippers, and pull gently from the component side while heating the leg from the solder side. I prefer the clippers because they grab about as well and don't sink as much heat. Once you have all the legs out, use the sucker to clean up the holes, then install the new component.

I ruined one trace pulling a leg over-zealously, but it was an easy fix.

On Jul 11, 2012, at 2:47 PM, Robert Bayes <robertab@swbell.net> wrote:

> Thanks for the input. I guess socket replacement is the best course of action. I'm not sure if the sockets on my board are single- or double wipe (you would think I'd remember having had to deal with them so often) but, they are clearly not gold. What about the round sockets, are they recommended as well or should I avoid them?
>
> Also, what is the most recommended desoldering method? As you know, these boards are over thirty years old and, I'm fearful of removing the board traces if I use a solder sucker and, I've not had much success with the solder wick.
> Thanks again.
>
> From: Kevin Moore <talon.k@gmail.com>
> To: vectorlist@vectorlist.org
> Sent: Wed, July 11, 2012 3:57:38 PM
> Subject: Re: VECTOR: Tempest
>
> Agreed, if you are having problems that are fixed by re-seating eproms every month, then they have most likely lost or are loosing tension. Either that or your sockets/ and or eprom legs are corroded or dirty.
>
> I've personally not had any issues with the original gold double wipes, but the single wipes they used suck and should always be-replaced.
>
> As for which eproms contain game data, I think it's pretty much spread through the majority of them.
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 11, 2012 at 3:46 PM, Chuck <chuck@localsurfer.com> wrote:
> I would just replace all the sockets instead of reflowing them. I lot of games had cheap sockets in them that failed over the years. It will drive you crazy chasing things like that again and again. If the interconnect cable is still the IDC connector, I would replace that also. I think Bob Roberts sells a kit for that.
>
>
> On Jul 11, 2012, at 4:19 PM, Robert Bayes wrote:
>
>> I have a Tempest game that (surprise) has been difficult to keep running. When it fails, I'll pull the boards out, remove all the socketed proms, clean them and the sockets and reseat them and, it'll be good for another month or so. Last time, I was seeking a more permanent solution so I reflowed all the solder connections on the prom sockets and the interboard connectors. It worked for a couple of months but now, it has failed again. I know it's the proms again because the self test works fine. It's just when I switch to game mode that the screen goes blank.
>>
>> Two questions:
>>
>> 1.) I don't have a memory map so could someone suggest to me which proms contain the game software? I don't want to bother those proms that are still working by reseating them again.
>>
>> 2.) Would replacing all the proms help? I mean, besides the external connections do proms actually fail where they become flaky? I've always thought that proms either work or they don't--not that they can only work sometimes.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>>
>
>

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Unsubscribe, subscribe, or view the archives at http://www.vectorlist.org
** Please direct other questions, comments, or problems to chris@westnet.com
Received on Sun Aug 19 23:36:53 2012