Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2012 09:00:16 -0400
Reply-To: pickle vanagon <greenvanagon@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: pickle vanagon <greenvanagon@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: cluster troubleshooting
In-Reply-To: <4fce088e.c5dae00a.54ed.4421@mx.google.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
The radio shack around the corner had this stuff so I got it. It's neat!
Strangely, it seems its only conductive once it has cured after a long
time. This threw me off at first.
Anyways, I kind of got it working last night, according to my voltmeter,
but it seems very shady and I expect it not to hold. (I'm worried both
about losing connection and causing a short... those tracks are close!)
The repair is right on a crease, so the copper tracks don't like to stay
flat there.
So rather than put this in I plan to do what Jarrett did here:
http://www.kpcnsk.com/?p=138
Otherwise, I'll have this unobtainable and nearly-unserviceable part
lurking behind the cluster getting ready to eat more of my time/sanity at
any moment.
I'm getting some stranded 22awg wire in a bunch of different colors (and
some 20awg for the power/ground lines), db25 connectors, and a breadboard
for the resistors/capacitor. Hopefully this will go well.
Anyone know why my foil has a place for a resistor in the resistor bank
where there's no resistor (and so no connection?) It appears to be stock
like this. I looked at ads for foils and found others with the same
configuration.
On Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 9:24 AM, David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net> wrote:
> At 08:56 AM 6/5/2012, pickle vanagon wrote:
>
>> So I'm going to give that a try. I plan to sand off the thin side (the
>> side that rests against the cluster) paint over the broken parts, and
>> then---that's it, right?
>>
>
> The stuff is polyester - you may have an easier time with a belly-blade
> X-Acto knife, either coming in at a very shallow angle or just scraping.
> Once you get through the plastic you can scrape the foil at 90* to get it
> shiny-bright, but remember it's quite thin.
>
> Prepare to spend a long time rolling and shaking the paint to get the
> copper up off the bottom. Also I've never been able to keep an open bottle
> for long periods without it drying up.
>
> Don't put it on too thick. Not sure what too thick is, but it's meant for
> rigid surfaces and you don't want it cracking. Dry thoroughly.
>
> Electronics techs use a variation on this using silver paint instead of
> copper. One way is in a pen like this: http://www.radioshack.com/**
> product/index.jsp?productId=**3964901<http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3964901>. Be sure to read the reviews re shaking it enough and using lacquer
> thinner to keep the tip clean. This stuff is more conductive than the
> copper and meant for flexible circuits as well as rigid ones.
>
>
> I think can probably not worry about having those connections exposed
>> there in a very small area.
>>
>
> Suggest at least a piece of good quality (Scotch 33+) electrical tape to
> keep the air off, but it may be overkill.
>
> Yrs,
> d
>
>
>
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