[Elecraft] Cutting Traces

[Stewart Baker]

Steve,

A very useful tip. 

I purchased a small reel of tinned copper wire about 22SWG (don't know the=
 AWG) 
and use that when bridging across cut tracks etc.

73
Stewart G3RXQ

On Sat, 23 Jul 2005 14:01:25 -0500, Steven Pituch wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> This is just a helpful tip for those who might need to debug an Elecraft
> product.
>
> I needed to isolate some items on my KPA100 that used the 5V line.  If I=
 cut
> a couple of traces it would be very easy to do the trouble shooting.  What=
 I
> was afraid of was that the trace repairs would be unsightly.  For the=
 first
> cut I made sure that I choose the narrowest section of the trace thinking=
 I
> would do the least amount of damage.  However, I was wrong.  Because the
> trace was so thin I could not get the solder to bridge the slit in the
> trace.  By the way, the cuts I made were with a straight edge razor which
> were very thin.  So I had to use the nice green insulated hook up wire
> contained in one of the Elecraft kits and bridge the two solder lands
> nearest either side of the cut.
>
> The next cut I made was in a much thicker section of another trace.  This
> time the width was about equal to the width of a solder land for the=
 typical
> IC socket pin.  When it was time to repair the trace I gently scratched=
 away
> the green coating on the trace on either side of the cut for a width=
 about
> equal to a solder land for an IC socket pin.  When I added the solder it
> bridged the cut very nicely.  In fact the repair looks just like the IC
> socket pin land after it is soldered. Very neat and hardly noticeable.
>
> So in summary, if you are going to cut a trace for diagnostic purposes=
 and
> intend to repair it later on, make sure you choose a part of the trace=
 that
> is wide enough to allow you to bridge some solder over the gap when you=
 do
> the repair.  The results will not even be noticeable.  Conversely,=
 repairing
> narrow traces are difficult to impossible, at the best unsightly, and=
 will
> require a wire jumper repair to bypass the trace.
>
> 72,
> Steve, W2MY