Soldering For Non-Solderers?

DanielMarkham asks: "A few months ago I bought a 4GB USB drive from jmtek Online. I really liked the drive -- heck, 4 GBs were awesome! But over time, using it in my tablet PC, the connectors started loosening up between the USB plug and the IC. Eventually, the part that plugs into the computer came loose from the rest of the drive. So, now I've got six-hundred bucks worth of useless plastic. I don't know anything about circuit board repair, so I'm in a bit of a fix. As I understand it, the 90-day return period has timed-out, and there's not much I can do in the way of a refund. But all of my data is still on there, I just need some way to re-connect the USB plug to the circuit board. I guess that would involve soldering? Do you guys have any idea how I could get the USB drive fixed without spending a lot of time or money?"

Comments

Good question

[solafide]

But how are you going to crack that drive open to solder it? It looks to me, from my own drive, that if you pull the case apart, the drive comes out on one side and the circuitry on the other, causing even more damage. ???

VCR repair shops

[notyou2]

Find a VCR/TV repair shop in your area (yes, they do exist). I bet they'd do it for you either cheap or free.

Soldering Sources

[ngkdc]

I guess that if you lived just down the road you could come over and I'd teach you how to rework the solder joints ... you MIGHT want to clue the rest of us into what part of the planet you currently occupy! You can check the phone book for electronics repair, retail, or electronics repair, industrial. Another place that may well be prepared to do this sort of work is a local two-way radio repair shop . The industrial folks and the two-way radio shops might well be better prepared to repair your device, but you may have to pay quite a bit. Be sure you bring all the parts. What ever you do, don't try liquid metal. I HATE cleaning up after someone tries using that stuff. Ugh. Once repaired, you might also consider a careful application of epoxy to strengthen the bond between the connector and the board. That is, after all, why the connector came off ... solder is pretty much useless by itself when it comes to holding something in place. Soldering, by itself, isn't all that difficult. It only requires the proper tools and practice ... though I don't believe you really want to get that deep into things. You MIGHT find a ham radio operator that knows what to do, and has the tools to do so, but that's probably a stretch (in the past, ham radio operators were more technically oriented, today it's so much easier to buy the equipment rather than make it. Thus, fewer hams are equipped, much less experienced in micro miniature repair). And yes ... I'm a ham as well, I speak from my experiences.

pinout

[nerd65536]

Your best bet as far as wiring goes is to cut apart an extra USB cable. The wires are color coded to correspond to pin numbers.
Referencing your orininal connector and getting pin numbers simply connect the following pins to wire colors:
1-red
2-white
3-green
4-black
(ignore the shielding on the USB cable or connect it to ground (pin 4))

Re:College

[10Brett-T]

At my alma mater, a soldering workshop was required for all engineering majors, not just us EEs.