Release Date: May 10, 2020
While working with an extremely expensive pin grid array style component, a Circuit Technology Center customer reported that they broke off a pin at the base near the component body. Any repair would have to endure the mechanical stress of insertion, plus the thermal stress of soldering temperatures when the component was soldered back into the circuit board.There was no documented procedure for this type of repair, so Circuit Technology Center devised a solution. A commercially available pin with the same diameter and gold plating as the original pin, but with a larger base was ordered. The key feature was the wide base because the repair required the hollowing out the base to fit over the stub of the broken pin remaining on the component body.
The center of the pin base was machined leaving a thin wall around the circumference of the pin base. This machined opening was tinned with high temperature solder. The stub remaining on the component was also tinned with high temperature solder.
A support fixture was fabricated to precisely positioned the replacement pin while it was soldered onto the component using high temperature solder and a hot air rework system.
This is another example of a challenging application solved by the ingenious team of engineers and technicians at Circuit Technology Center.
