Soldered - as in UN

[WU2D]

No Audio on the ART-13 this morning. This new behavior was traced to missing B+ on my modified speech module's first stage. The problem turned out to be a wire from the plate resistor stuck in a terminal strip and prepped for soldering - but it never got the courtesy. I guess the connection finally oxidized. I have seen this in a few of my creations, other peoples creations (especially Heathkits) and even in a couple of military modules and rigs. Anybody else run into unsoldered connections?

[WQ9E]

The SX-88 I picked up a couple of years ago had the nice little red paint dots on all the soldered connections indicating they had been inspected.  I traced a random crackle on the top frequency range to a wire passing through the mixer coil terminal complete with a nice red paint dot but no solder.  Apparently the mechanical connection was enough for a number of years.  The "inspector" had the paint technique down but was not quite up on the inspecting.

I have found several on Heathkits.

[WA1GFZ]

Early '80s we built an Aircraft  test set in a large Zero Case. It had a random problem for years until it hard failed around 2004 that I traced to an unsoldered connector pin with nice shrink tubing over each connection.
All you had to do was move the pin a bit and it would be fine for a couple years.

[KC4VWU]

Been there and done that Mike! Point to point is usually the culprit; trying to pre-fit parts and make them look nice and even.

Phil

[W1VD]

75A4 tube socket pin connection never soldered from factory ... forget which tube or pin. Symptom was intermittent crackle. Found it by tapping the chassis with a hardwood dowel ... progressively lighter tapping led me to the general location. Busy looking at 'suspect' components in the area I almost missed it. There it was - just as it left the factory ~50 years earlier.     

[K1JJ]

Yep, banging around the circuits of any rig is a great way to shake out the gremlins.  Cold solder joints, bad relays, unsoldered connections, globs of bridged solder, intermittent parts themselves, wires touching and shorting, loose chassis ground lugs... it goes on and on.  A communications tech I once worked with would immediately fire up a bad rig and went to work tapping it with the handle of a screwdriver. He usually got to the trouble quickly.  Since intermittents can often be the most time consuming and frustrating problems, why not go after them like a Rottweiller right away?  If the rig still doesn't come back to life, then start measuring voltages. After that, divide and conquer. Disconnect things and isolate the sub-units that work and those that do not. Those three techniques will get to the source quickly.  

I used to teach troubleshooting to a group of 25 factory techs back in the 80's. It's amazing how many of those guys were in a rut and had no plan. Most of them never used their scopes or sig gens to trace stuff out. Some would just look at the schematic, at the unit, at the schematic, scratch their asses and look cornfused.   In contrast, many of the hams I know are some of the best troubleshooters on the planet.

Don't get me started, Jay...

T

[KA2DZT]

I've found unsoldered connections even in that high priced HP equipment.  If you look long enough and far enough you'll find them.

I think the best one I can remember was in a Heathkit.  One of the first kits I ever built was the Q multiplier.  Completed the construction but it would only work sometimes.  Finally traced it to an unsoldered filament wire on the 12ax7 socket.  I guess I missed soldering that connection (but I very carefully followed the instructions) .  I never forgave myself for making that mistake.  

Years later I sold the Q multiplier at a fester.  Years after that I bought another same Heathkit Q multiplier at some other fester.  Well you guessed it,  that Q multiplier seemed to have the same problem, only worked sometimes.  It didn't take too long to figure what was the problem,  the same filament connection on the 12ax7 socket was unsoldered.

I concluded that it must have been an error in the instructions, in that, it never read at any point to solder that one connection.

To think, I was pissed at myself all those many years for making that one mistake .

Fred,  KA2DZT

[WA1GFZ]

Tom, Remember the head of Engineering, brains, not bean counter Howard Bleam. We were working on a new IFF radar TPX 28 and just could not dial in the TX pulse rise time so we gave him a call. Howard used to hum to himself as he worked and was quite the guy. Anyway the hum came around the corner and asked a few questions. We gave him a tweeker and he went at it.
After a few minutes he saw the adjustments were going nowhere. He stopped, gathered himself, grabbed the system and lifted it off the bench and slammed it down. Pulse was perfect we got a little smile as he walked away.
 

[K1JJ]

He stopped, gathered himself, grabbed the system and lifted it off the bench and slammed it down. Pulse was perfect we got a little smile as he walked away.
 

Heh heh... he woulda been in a real fix if it went the other way and the lights went out completely... But sometimes completely dead is easier to fix.

My worst repair attempt ws in 1974 - a new, half-working cellular Pulsar Motorola radiotelephone - just came out stuffed with IC's and readouts. Within 10 minutes I screwed it up so bad the digits were dead and the fuse popped. Back to the factory. I met my match that day.

T

[Bill, KD0HG]

In the late 1970s I worked at the Motorola plant in Chicago. At the time they were still making the famous Motrac series of mobile transceivers and, yes, they hooked each one up on a test jig during final test and a tech would beat on every one with a rubber mallet to find intermittents and bad solder connections.

Then came the day when the production line began finding a whole lot of defective radios. Started stacking up on a pallet. The problem was quickly identified. A new employee was smacking the radios so hard with the mallet that he was shattering the tubes inside the rear heat sink. WHAM! (tinkle-tinkle). Us hams got a terrific laugh out of that episode.

[WA1GFZ]

Our Kodak 4330 camera CCD quit so decided to take it apart last night. HC a pile of stuff in those little devices. Pulled it all apart cycled all the connectors.  Got all the tiny hardware back and still no CCD function. the module with the ccd has a multi section flex print. I would need to unsolder it to go any deeper. I think I will invest in a new one after the three hours on the microscope I wasted last night when I could have been on the air.

[KA2DZT]

Our Kodak 4330 camera CCD quit so decided to take it apart last night. HC a pile of stuff in those little devices. Pulled it all apart cycled all the connectors.  Got all the tiny hardware back and still no CCD function. the module with the ccd has a multi section flex print. I would need to unsolder it to go any deeper. I think I will invest in a new one after the three hours on the microscope I wasted last night when I could have been on the air.

Once you take it apart,  it becomes parts and pieces.  If you need a small box I can send you one

Fred, KA2DZT

[WA1GFZ]

I got it all back in one hunk with no extra hardware but no go on a fix. there were 4 interface connectors with many pins. 3 were flex connectors so hoped one was tarnished. Careful inspection under the scope showed no problems.
The CCD module is about 1 1/2 inch cube and not sure I want to mess with it.
It holds the motor lense and gears. small board on top must support the ccd.

[W2VW]

Did the guy get promoted to management?

In the late 1970s I worked at the Motorola plant in Chicago. At the time they were still making the famous Motrac series of mobile transceivers and, yes, they hooked each one up on a test jig during final test and a tech would beat on every one with a rubber mallet to find intermittents and bad solder connections.

Then came the day when the production line began finding a whole lot of defective radios. Started stacking up on a pallet. The problem was quickly identified. A new employee was smacking the radios so hard with the mallet that he was shattering the tubes inside the rear heat sink. WHAM! (tinkle-tinkle). Us hams got a terrific laugh out of that episode.

[WA1GFZ]

When I worked for JSorola a guy in the cell phone division put dibs on every 6811 processor he could and crippled the radio business. By the time the third generation ran the company the leadership had degraded to a bunch of boobs reflected in their quality.

[N4LTA]

Bought a $500 plus new tuner made by Palastar from the Ham Station a few years ago. It was intermittant out of the box and the roller inductor had a "clunk" in one spot.

I originally thought it was a bad SO239 and Palastar sent me a new one. When I went to replace it - I found that the toroidal sensor "one turn" was never soldered. I fixed it and found a large blob of solder on the roller inductor causing the clunk.

I called Palastar and was told that it was not possible that someone must have tampered with it. I then got impatient and told him there was no sign of solder ever and he became short and somewhat rude. I asked about the solder blob and he told me it was done to short the inductor for 10 meters and was normal? He then had another phone call and had to go.

I had heard nothing but good from Palastar - but not on this item.


Also got a MFJ 12 volt distribution block and it was bad out of the box. The European style main fuse holder was not soldered. It appeared to be a holder that required spot welding. The plating on the holder would not take solder when I tried to fix it - looked like it was wave soldered and the fuse holder had zero adherance - typical of MFJ quality in my opinion.

I returned it with a full explanation of what I had found. They replaced it but the paper work sent back to me stated that the owner had tampered with the device and had damaged it.

[W9GT]

In the late 1970s I worked at the Motorola plant in Chicago. At the time they were still making the famous Motrac series of mobile transceivers and, yes, they hooked each one up on a test jig during final test and a tech would beat on every one with a rubber mallet to find intermittents and bad solder connections.

Then came the day when the production line began finding a whole lot of defective radios. Started stacking up on a pallet. The problem was quickly identified. A new employee was smacking the radios so hard with the mallet that he was shattering the tubes inside the rear heat sink. WHAM! (tinkle-tinkle). Us hams got a terrific laugh out of that episode.

I was a tech on the VRC-12 line at Magnavox back in the mid-sixties.  Saw more than one radio fixed by putting it on the QC shake table.  Sometimes a good shake fixed some unknown intermittent problem.  High tech troubleshooting.

73,  Jack, W9GT

[K1JJ]

Yesterday I had a remote control device that became intermittent when the AC adapter input socket was wiggled at the input to the device. It was brand new.  I took it apart and found surface mount technology with a big cheap plasdick female ac socket soldered to the board.  The leverage and stress on the board from this socket was too much and it ripped the pads off the board.

Instead of sending it back, I took a chance by removing the socket and hard-wiring on the wires. That solved the problem.

I think interfacing to the real whirl is a mechanical nightmare for these little circuits. Switches, buttons, cases, cords, sockets, etc can weaken the whole system.

I really hate connectors and plugs in general... and especially those homo screw-on plasdick cones used to splice wires. You will find most connections in my shack hardwired and SOLDERED.

T

[KB2WIG]

 " typical of MFJ quality in my opinion. "

3rd rate product at a 2nd rate price.... ..


klc

[WU2D]

When I was at Mot at the New Plantation facility in 1980, we made handheld radios and pagers and Apcor medical telemetry radios. We had a woman on the end of the line who had the interesting job of taking each radio and throwing it into a 18 x 18 plywood box lined with indoor outdoor carpeting. This was our final loose part test, just before hitting the techs. Those old MX, MT and HT radios were tough.