[Coco] I've killed my CoCo3

[Zippster]

Hi Paul,

I’m sorry it went that way.  I still consider the clip and and desoldering braid the safest way,
but it is pretty important to have a soldering station where you can control the temp, and using
a proper tip for the iron.  A ‘drag soldering’ type tip, basically a straight cylinder with the end cut
at an angle is best (for applying heat to the braid), a chisel tip probably second best.  Having a
flat surface at the tip allows for faster more accurate heat transfer to the pad and solder without
excessively heating the board material.  I find the common round pencil style tips to be one of the least
suitable for anything.  I use a chisel or drag type for everything.  Of course that’s just my opinion and
everyone has their own way of doing things.

All that said, it’s possible the board was degraded or just not up to par in some way which
helped it fall apart on you.  It can happen.

If you want, you can send the board to me, I’m certain I can patch it up for you.  No charge, just
take care of the shipping.  Unless someone has a motherboard with a dead GIME out there.

- Ed


> On Oct 19, 2017, at 6:13 AM, Paul Shoemaker <paulfe3 at swbell.net> wrote:
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> Yesterday evening I decided to replace the 6809 with a 6309 in my CoCo 3.  Although I am still an amateur with a soldering iron, I've been practicing and recently completed this same process on one of my CoCo 2 systems where I clipped out the 6809, desoldered the remaining pins, and soldered in a socket.  However, when I tried this same approach on my CoCo 3, as soon as I started using solder wick, I noticed some of the solder pads began to come off.  I don't think I was using excessive heat (same iron, same heat settings as before).  Even the traces on the board began to lift up.  It became clear to me after this happened to a few pads that I had destroyed the board.
> 
> If anything I was more gentle with the CoCo 3 board than I was with the CoCo 2 board before.  It was evident that the CoCo3 board was more "weathered" than any of my other systems...  more dust and dirt inside, a lot of oxidation on the RF modulator box, etc.  It may be that this CoCo 3 spent many years in a garage or shed prior to me rescuing it from eBay last year.
> 
> Any advice on how to avoid from happening again this in the future?  
> 
> -Paul
> 
> 
> 
> 
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