Operation Good Looking

When Appearance Counts

Repairing a damaged circuit with a wire is commonplace, but the repair will shout out "Look at me, I've been repaired!." When you want to repair a damaged circuit but don't want the repair to be evident, try using flat copper ribbon.

After cleaning the area you remove the damaged circuit, scrape off any solder mask or coating from the ends, and tin the ends of the circuit with solder.

Form the copper ribbon.

Then you select a replacement flat copper ribbon circuit to match the width and thickness of the damaged circuit. These copper ribbon circuits are available in a variety of sizes including:

.002" x .004"
.002" x .006"
.002" x .008"
.002" x .010"
.003" x .012"
.003" x .015"
.005" x .020"
.005" x .030"

Overcoat the copper ribbon with colored epoxy.

Trim the copper ribbon to length and tin the ends with solder. If the repair is long or has bends, one end of the ribbon may be soldered prior to forming the new shape. Pure copper ribbon is easy to form so you ca match the path of the damaged circuit.

Once the new circuit is in the proper position and soldered it can be overcoated with colored epoxy to secure it to the circuit board surface and match the appearance.

Several members of the Circuit Technology Center team contributed to this feature story.