Assembly Bitemare.
Assembly Bitemare.
(OP)
See these simple dipswitches?
All three of them?

They are the same on ten boards.
They're backwards.
I need some suggestions on how to remove them, preferably keeping them intact so they can be re-installed correctly. Normally I'd just cut all their leetle feets off and be done with it, but I actually can't get to the feet in between with cutters.
I have a hot air pen but there is no way it will heat all 20 pins at once.
If I put them in the reflow oven everything will be roasted again and the bad thing is that in the scope of it all those partially shielded pins are the last things to melt.
Ack! and these are double sided boards so all the bottom parts would fall off.
All three of them?

They are the same on ten boards.
They're backwards.

I need some suggestions on how to remove them, preferably keeping them intact so they can be re-installed correctly. Normally I'd just cut all their leetle feets off and be done with it, but I actually can't get to the feet in between with cutters.
I have a hot air pen but there is no way it will heat all 20 pins at once.
If I put them in the reflow oven everything will be roasted again and the bad thing is that in the scope of it all those partially shielded pins are the last things to melt.
Ack! and these are double sided boards so all the bottom parts would fall off.
Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com





RE: Assembly Bitemare.
TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies forum1529: Translation Assistance for Engineers Entire Forum list http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
http://www.okinternational.com/metcal/english/glob...
http://www.digikey.ca/product-detail/en/easy-braid...
Wick could work, if it doesn't, try lots of solder and a little prying first, then wick once you've lifted the pins slightly.
Or you could get a felt pen and modify the labels ;)
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
The switches are so close together that I'm just not sure I can get to the pins with wick and larger wick-driving tips without melting some switch sides which would require buying some anyway, same with a blade tip. My favorite of solder-blobbing would probably suck a lot of those resistors into the maelstrom too.
Someone suggested trying to disassemble the switches and reassembling the tops reversed, then I saw that these are "epoxy sealed".
I hadn't thought of the Dremel. The cost hit isn't as bad as I thought, $35 for the switches - the $60 for quick shipping is pretty dang painful but I could see trying other methods as being much more labor intensive (>>$60).
I have one of those Dremel cable extensions that make fine work easier. I can also use an end-mill in the flavor of the Samsung Washer Controls repair detailed elsewhere here.
I wonder if ten boards would warrant doing a CNC router program to mill them all off.. hmmm.
Well I'm off to hack them. Thanks again.
Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
Seems like you could just cut the cases out, flip them, and glue them back down?
TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies forum1529: Translation Assistance for Engineers Entire Forum list http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
The switch is epoxied together so there is no way to disassemble them.
The Dremel was unworkable, grinding wheels barely touched the feet.
A diamond burr barely touched the hard brittle switch bodies, it would take hours and hours.
A Dremel saw-wheel proves just too nasty and uncontrollable.
A jeweler's file too thick, it's going to take the tops off the surrounding resistors.
A jigsaw blade to thick too.
In desperation went for the basic Swiss diagonal cutters and tried to get under the outside pins. Very hard but I'm able to cut some of the feet. When I get about half of them cut the other feet just pull out of the solder. I can then bend the switch up and easily cut the far feet.
Took 1.5 hrs to cut them out and clean off all the left over feet.
Done.
Now waiting for the replacements.
Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
The idea is to destroy the switch so that the feet may be removed individually.
With the dremel, I visuallized cutting the switch down the center so that it could be disassembled.
Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
Remove all excess solder from each pad. Mount the PCB sin a holding jig and run a piece of magnet wire under the switch bodies. Tie the magnet wire down on one side. Pull the other end towards the tied down side, heating each leg of the switch in series. If done correctly, the magnet wire wipe under the pin and will break any solder bridge, preventing it from tacking back down. Once you get a rhythm going, you can do long strings of QFP pins in a few seconds.
Dan - Owner
http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
Dan - Owner
http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
The switches are fairly tall as SMDs go.
I'd have tried it if I wasn't done. Now I have a pile of dead switches.
Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
Dan - Owner
http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
Z
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
--------------------------------------
Half full - Half empty? I don't mind. It's what in it that counts.
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
Took me 2 hours to solder all the switches back on. I marred a LED display so I had to switch it out too - more work. Luckily I had about 30 spares of those.
Then I had to wash all the boards for a THIRD time, blowing them all off and soaking my pants (again).
Now I'm heading back to test these things.
Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
(Same approach as the felt pen, but neater.)
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
--------------------------------------
Half full - Half empty? I don't mind. It's what in it that counts.
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
But, if the situation is: your $100 circuit board fixes a problem with your customer's 20M equipment..."hey, customer, read the dip switch carefully on these, they are reversed". If they only set it once at installation, no huhu.
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: Assembly Bitemare.
Dan - Owner
http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com