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Is it necessary to clean up flux? Almost never. Is it a good idea to do it anyway? I'd say so. Here's a good article about all things solder and flux to bring you up to speed.

Flux is SUPER carcinogenic, or so I've been lead to believe, and it also causes serious gastrointestinal issues if ingested, in even relatively small amounts. I generally try to leave all the circuit boards I work on clean of big globs of flux, but I'm no perfectionist. Flux is non-conductive, so don't worry if you leave a bunch behind or it looks like the flux might be bridging a connection. I oftentimes leave smaller flux contamination spots on the board, unless it's in a spot where I'd be likely to touch next time I'm handling the board.

Here's a pretty good soldering iron, the Hakko FX-888. It's more than enough iron to last you through all your projects in the foreseeable future, and it comes with extra tips and a tip cleaning canister. To be honest, though, it's pretty expensive, and I totally understand if it's out of your price range. Personally, I use a Chinese clone, which works extremely well, for what I paid for it.

I'd also recommend anyone working on anything with a soldering iron to get a set of helping hands. Finding one which isn't broken or of shit quality is a real crapshoot, but, once you have one that works, you'll wonder how you ever got by without one. Personally, I recommend spending the cash to get one with some sort of LED built in, but here's a link to a cheap and functional set of helping hands.

If you're going to be desoldering things often (or trying to make beautiful solder joints), you definitely want to get yourself some desoldering braid, which is just stranded copper wire filled with flux paste. When you put heat to the top of the braid and put the bottom of the braid on the component, the braid will wick excess solder from the component. Once you master using this stuff, it's a real boon for disassembly (or cleanup of solder blobs). You might also want to look into a desoldering pump, which is okay for some things, but not nearly as versatile as desoldering braid.

Last, but certainly not least, is having the right solder for the job. Personally, I use silver bearing solder, because I've been told it is more resistant to cold joints, and slightly more conductive. Here's a link to a spool of silver bearing solder, which I'd buy, were I in the market for a new spool.

One more link for you... When I was looking for a link to that Chinese clone soldering station, I stumbled on this DIY SMD soldering practice kit. Might be worth your time to invest in one and try your luck. For $2, it's a great way to go from soldering zero to soldering hero in a day or two. Also, check this page for more DIY kit ideas.

Let me know if you have any more questions! My inbox is always available, if you'd feel more comfortable PM'ing me questions, too. (That goes for anyone who needs a hand, not just /u/websurferathome)

The PS2 pads aren't the most durable things in the world. I'd recommend taking it apart and giving it a good clean. Ideally, I'd recommend using some electrical contact cleaner (my personal preference is WD40 Specialist). Clean all of the contacts on the board, take all the rubber membranes out and give them a gentle clean with a toothbrush in some warm, soapy water. Let it all dry and re-assemble. See if that does the trick. Spray some contact cleaner into the end of the controller cable that plugs into the console too. Give it a quick visual inspection for bent pins.

In terms of the console, it's a bit difficult to say. It's a PS2 slim which means unlike the phat models you can't just swap out the control/memory card ports for a different one, at least not easily. If you're confident enough to take the console apart, then as before give the contacts a good clean.

From what you've described, it's definitely salvageable. Just try some of the easy, non-intrusive stuff before doing anything more drastic.

WD40 Specialist Contact Cleaner: https://www.amazon.co.uk/WD40-Drying-Contact-Cleaner-250ml/dp/B00KPUBO2S/

Awesome! Great video, thanks for doing that. Now I have something to link people to when I bring it up. Two tips:

To get the alignment of the connector and drawer mechanism perfect on the first try, you plug the 72pin connector into the mainboard and then set the drawer in place on top of it. You screw in the 6 screws, but only a couple turns to get them started. Then insert a cart and lock it down into place like you were going to boot the system up. This aligns everything naturally. With the cart still locked down into place, tighten up all 6 screws and you're done.

To clean carts that you've cleaned a dozen times but still don't work, you need a brass brush. Brass is a nice soft metal (you probably have a brass soldering iron tip cleaner) that works great at cleaning other metals. Spray the contacts down with some of that cleaner you've got, and then scrub back and forth across the pins. Don't be afraid to apply some pressure. This roughs up the surface of the goldfingers, removing all sorts of oxidized crap that alcohol and even contact cleaner can't dissolve. I had one Intellivision cartridge from the 1970s that was so corroded I didn't think it would ever boot, but came right back to life after a brushing. Here's a link to some brushes I bought on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-7064-Mini-Brush-3-Piece/dp/B0037UUZRS/ (The nylon one is great for cleaning console exteriors, and the steel one can be used to clean your BBQ grill.)

As a side note, it doesn't matter if the connector sits on the bottom the whole time. The surface temperature of the bottom of a pan full of water boiling at 100C is going to be within a couple degrees of 100C itself. Sort of counter-intuitive. You'd expect the pan bottom to be really hot, but it's not. There's actually a fun science fair thing you can do that shows this in action: boiling water in a paper cup. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9gKzea3Cno

I don't know about making repro crats, but I do know about mods and repairs. I have done an overclock mod and 2 s-video mods on my genesis consoles, as well as lots of repairs on other consoles.

I have the basic tools like screw drivers, needle-nose pliers, and some tiny cutters just like these.

My soldering iron is a cheap 35 watt fixed temperature hunk of crap. Get a better one. I don't have any recommendations, but this one is linked to from this subreddit's sidebar. It has good reviews, but I haven't tried it myself.

I also have a spool of thin rosin core solder that is about 1mm thick. I also have a spool of de-solder wick which comes in handy.

To hold down and/or secure wires I use some rubbery electrical tape or hot glue. I use the electrical tape whenever I can, since it is easier to remove than the hot glue. The hot glue is useful in small amounts to keep wires from getting accidentally pulled out of place.

A multimeter is very useful. You probably won't need a really fancy one, just a basic $10 one.

I bought one of those parallel cables that all the old printer's used for only $1.99 at a thrift store. It's packed with different colored wires, that are just the right thickness to use for most console repairs/mods.

Best move here is to use special electrical contacts oil.

I'm living in Europe, so I'm using a European brand (actually French...)

http://www.kfsolution.fr/kf/KFproductdetail.csp?division=&product=F%202%20SPECIAL%20CONTACTS&ilang=fr&plang=fr

You have different brands in USA, like this one :

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00AF0OFVU/ref=olp_twister_child?ie=UTF8&mv_size_name=0

Most of the time, it will cost you 15 USD / EUR (without transport).
You could find those special electrical contacts oils in a good electronic component shop, if you live a big city.
I have one bottle for now 8 years so you can use a bottle for many years !!
Believe me : it changed a lot of things for me :
N64 cartridge working again, unrecognised joypad on PSX... recognized, boring USB key.. working again, etc.
On your picture, your cartridge isn't clean !
Take a q tip, put some special oil on it and.... clean. do this with 2 Q tips for a good measure.

Spray some oil on your 62Pins Slot, inside the SNES , and you are good to go.
Except for the battery, cartridges can last practically forever....

Since everyone caught the leaded vs non-leaded error I won't even mention it.
However, I'm just gonna nip one thing I did catch in my read-through right now:

> Fast drying WD40 can also be somewhat useful for cleaning PCB’s.

I really hope you're referring to WD's line of electrical contact cleaner here, and not plain ol' WD-40 lubricant. Should probably make that a bit more clear so newcomers don't assume you're referring to plain WD-40.
Do not ever put standard WD-40 on your PCBs or components, it is oil-based and can eat plastic and rubber components if left to sit.

To add in/on/around:

• Craft knife works for cutting traces wonderfully. However, my favorite scraping tool ever for exposing a trace for soldering is a decent fiberglass pen/scratch brush (like this one), does the job fast and clean, and generally easy cleanup. Just be gentle when scraping.
  
• Q-Tips are cheap and do the job well, but if you want to be 100% clean go for some lint-free swabs and wipes when you clean up your PCB and joints.
  
  Fantastic little batch of starter info here, though it could use some formatting work. Mods, pls sticky/pin this.

The soldering station you're looking at will be fine for replacing capacitors. Its adjustable, which will come in handy when you want to further your skills. Get some extra tips, and find some fine point ones. I like to use long conical ones, as well as long small flat ones.

As other posters have said, you want to practice on something you don't necessarily want to keep. Find something cheap from a thrift store and take it apart.. an old clock radio, vcr, something of that sort. Then identify the capacitors and give it a go. Once you get the hang of it, try on the genesis.

Solder - you want some 60/40 solder (60%tin 40%lead). Stay away from acid core, its not for electronics. Find this in a thin gauge, you'll have a better time with it.

Flux - nice to have around. On some joints, the old solder doesn't really like to flow all that well. You can put some flux on it, and it'll flow a bit better. Use it on the new joint as well. There's several different types, and you can get lost in it, but you really want a liquid or gel type flux that is "no clean". I still give it a rinse with alcohol and a brush after I'm finished, but it cleans up way easier than regular flux. Here's what I use : MG Chemical's Paste flux

You will also need something to remove the old solder from the holes. Tools like this Vacuum pump and desoldering wick like Desoldering wick are good for removing the old solder.

As for the actual removal and replacement of the capacitors, I usually heat up one side from the bottom of the board, and rock the cap so it slides out a bit, then do the other side, working the cap out a little at a time. After that I clear the hole with a vacuum pump (while heating the solder up, get the vacuum pump as close as possible and press the button) or the desoldering wick (put the wick on top of the solder, then heat both, pull the soldering iron and the wick off at the same time, lest you pull up traces - This takes a bit more practice to perfect)

Make sure you put the new capacitor in correctly. Electrolytic caps are polarized. You want to make sure positive goes to positive and negative to negative. Look at the cap before you remove it. Most boards are marked, but no reason to risk the board being marked wrong.

Make sure the caps you're using are the proper rating. A general rule is the capacitance needs to be the same (farad rating), and the voltage rating needs to be at least the rated, but can be higher with no ill effects.

Its late and I'm rambling. Hope this helps.

Yea I figured it was either it worked after cleaning it up or Id have to replace it. I just couldnt understand how the hell there was so much liquid without it frying everything. Problem is, I dont know if I messed up anything else during teardown so buying a new LCD is questionable to me lol. I have confidence in my skill but otherwise anything could happen and I dont want to spend money for no reason. Really wish the gamepads werent so damn expensive.

Edit: I was considering this kit. Good reviews and apparently good customer service and Amazon. Could even Prime it to get to testing faster lol. https://www.amazon.com/YTTL%C2%AE-Replacement-Screen-Digitizer-GamePad-U/dp/B00WFUQZMK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1537826096&sr=8-2&keywords=wii+u+screen+replacement&dpID=41iaC%252B4qCVL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Edit 2: The console was a refurb from Gamestop that someone owned and then sold to me. I got my money back but also offered to try and fix it. They were okay with that but after letting them know the issue they arent sure if they want it back. They say I can take it for $25 if I want since the console itself is fine but again a good screen kit is like $25-$30.

Hello fello Canuk!

I use headlight polish bought from walmart to great success. yes - it's for plastic, but it works absolutely perfectly on metal contacts.

i think the bottle cost me 7 bucks. i initially bought it for - you guessed it, headlights! but after a while i decided to try it on my GBC screen (too cheap to buy a replacement) with little luck. also tried it on my cart contacts, holy crap! it's my go-to now. brasso just smells so bad i never want to use it.


https://www.amazon.ca/BRITE-BOY-62015-Metal-Polish/dp/B005CDJT5W

lol over 100 bucks... fuck that.

edit: im sure to clean my carts with windex afterwards... no idea what chemicals are in there but i want to make sure it's cleaned off afterwards.

If you're looking for a high quality triwing I really like this one from Moody Tools:
affiliate link - non-affiliate link


They also make really nice JIS (Japanese Standard like Phillips) drivers which I find are immensely better than standard Phillips drivers.


For gamebits / Nintendo security bits, I have this set and I really like it. They are made out of a reasonable quality stainless steel.
affiiate link -
non-affiliate link


Full disclosure: If you click on the affiliate link and buy the product I will get a small commission from Amazon to help pay for my childrens' education ;) I personally own the products I linked to.

Although not the cheapest, ebay is probably the easiest way to find faulty systems.

Some equipment recommendations:

• A TS100 soldering iron. I use a more expensive Hakko FX888-D, but I've heard great things about this one for the price. Try to get a chisel tip for general purpose use, it has a balanced combination of size and heat transfer.
  
• iFixit 64-bit toolkit, for handling all the various screws you'll encounter.
  
• Soldapullt desoldering pump. Don't bother with the Chinese knock-offs, they seem to break easily.
  
• Fine 63/37 solder. One roll will last you a long time. Don't bother with cheap Chinese solder, it will not have the advertised metal composition and give poor results.
  
• I like this flux, but it's kind of pricey.
  
• Desoldering braid is essential.
  
• Neoteck multimeter. Very good for the price.
  
• If you need to remove SMD components, a 858D hot air station available under various Chinese brands you've never heard of. Kind of sketchy, but works and has not burned down my home yet.

Regardless of how it looks, the only important thing is that it functions. Congrats for that. I would recommend keeping a cheat sheet with the old cap values since the SMD caps don't really tell you their values (in case they ever go bad) :)


The only real suggestion I can make is:
LEARN TO USE FLUX <3


Those pointed bits of solder would get fixed if you put a dab of flux on the blob and touch it with the iron. :D


That's my only critique.


I use this:
https://www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals-Clean-Paste-Syringe/dp/B00425FUW2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483361217&sr=8-1&keywords=mg+chemicals+no+clean+flux

As someone who has gotten into doing this over the last three years or so, my best recommendation is to start with a decent temperature-controlled soldering station.

I started with a $10 kit that included a cheap pencil iron, stand, small amount of solder, desoldering pump and desoldering wick. I thought it would be a good place to start but it was horrible and taught me more bad habits than anything else. Most of the time, it couldn't get hot enough to melt the solder either.

I'm not saying you have to spend a lot of money, I'm just saying if you go as cheap as possible, you'll just end up wasting that money when you inevitably find that you need a real soldering station. I got the Aoyue 936 (don't ask me how to pronounce that brand name, way too many vowels) and absolutely love it. I got it for $40 when Fry's had a sale on it but it's worth the $50 Amazon is asking. Pick up one of those brass wire sponges to go with it, they're much better at cleaning your iron than the traditional damp sponge and keep the iron hot at the same time.

Good luck!

I'm sorry about your screen, Friend. Maybe consider something like this for your next screen: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N3ASPNV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_tKaXCbYTH8A05

The idea is to use a chemical meant to reverse oxidation in plastics like headlight lenses, but on the laser lens. I've heard of people using this product to buff the lens: https://www.amazon.com/Meguiars-PlastX-Plastic-Cleaner-Polish/dp/B0000AY3SR

Re: pots, I think it can work if you have an oscilloscope and the repair manual to get the values, but otherwise it's kind of a fool's errand IMO

Perhaps some plastic polish? Im not sure if it will quite give it a glossy finish so much though, but a lot of people favor this it seems, haven't tried it myself.