Defective Grizzly G0459 Printed Circuit Boards

[Mike Phillips]

A buddy mentioned to me that he had a defective conveyor belt speed controller in his Grizzly G0459 baby drum sander. The part number for the controller is P0459046V2. It's also called the Grizzly PC Board Console Unit V2.03.09. It's $62 plus shipping from Grizzly. He ordered a new one, installed it, and solved his problem. He gave me the old one.

After a brief inspection, I discovered that the problem was a bad solder joint on one of the 0.250" push-on terminals. The printed circuit board is single-side, and flexing the terminals by installing the board can fatigue the joint and cause it to fail. Machine vibration may also cause the problem. After I resoldered the terminals, the board works perfectly.

If you have a similar failure, when you remove the board, look very carefully for bad solder joints. If you know how to solder, the fix is 5 seconds. However, go ahead and touch up all of the terminal connections. You could save some time and money.

Grizzly G0459 Parts Diagram (http://cdn0.grizzly.com/partslists/g0459_pl.pdf)

Grizzly PC Board Console Unit V2.03.09 (http://www.grizzly.com/parts/P0459046V2)

[Bill Huber]

Good catch, it makes you feel good when you can find something like that.

Bad solder joint can be a big problem for circuit boards. A lot of people just don't check a board over very well before they get a new one.

I had my AC go out in one of my cars, the dealer wanted $1200 for a new control board, the car was not worth much more then that. So I pulled the dash apart and took out the control board, after inspecting the board I found a bad solder joint and re-soldered it, worked like a champ.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I have a friend who owns a music store. While he sells a lot of equipment and builds custom guitars, his main source of income is his repair business. He makes a lot of money resoldering "cold" joints.

[glenn bradley]

The ability to properly solder an electronic connection . . . another art passed down to me by my father that seems to be disappearing from our current adult population. On the other hand, I can't work on a car for beans ;-)

[Gregory Stahl]

My GO441 cyclone circuit board was full of cold solder joints. Grizzly did not have another in stock so I had to fix.

I had a Felder k915 slider with a bad solder joint as well. My scoring blade would only work intermittenly. This one was done by hand--very bad job by the person who did it.

Greg

[Curt Harms]

I've heard the term but have no idea what it is. How do you detect a 'cold solder joint'?

[Jim German]

The ability to properly solder an electronic connection . . . another art passed down to me by my father that seems to be disappearing from our current adult population. On the other hand, I can't work on a car for beans ;-)
I think rather than decreasing, the number of folks who can solder electronics is actually sky rocketing. The rise in popularity of cheap computers like the Raspberry Pi, or Arduino has started a renaissance in home grown electornics. There are tons of 'Maker' fairs around now, and the majority of the stuff that people bring there require some soldering.

[Mike Phillips]

I've heard the term but have no idea what it is. How do you detect a 'cold solder joint'?
As far as I know, the origin of the term "cold" solder joint originates from the fact that solder has to be heated to a molten level to flow around components and create electrical connections. The components (wire leads) must not be moved until the solder has cooled and returned to its solid state. If the lead is moved before the solder is "cold", the connection is compromised. The term has also been applied to connections that are damaged in other ways, such as vibration or shock. That's why I used the term "bad" solder joint instead of "cold" solder joint, although both terms are often used interchangeably. Both joints are remedied the same way: Heat them with a soldering iron to cause the solder reflow around the connections. Make sure the components don't move until the solder cools. The easiest way to detect a bad or cold solder joint is visual. You will often see a concentric circle around the component lead. The solder bump should be shiny with no concentric circles. Here is one example.

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[Bill Huber]

I've heard the term but have no idea what it is. How do you detect a 'cold solder joint'?

I use a magnifying glass in most cases and if you look right were the component touches the board you can see a crack or a dark line. Some time it is the component that will have a crack around where it goes into the solder.

Do an image search on Google for cold solder joint and you can see some pictures.

Looks like Mike gave you a great explanation on it.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Mike nailed it in definition and method of detection. It's just visual inspection. It doesn't look smooth and shiny typically. It doesn't look like other solder joints visually.

[Mike Cutler]

I think rather than decreasing, the number of folks who can solder electronics is actually sky rocketing. The rise in popularity of cheap computers like the Raspberry Pi, or Arduino has started a renaissance in home grown electornics. There are tons of 'Maker' fairs around now, and the majority of the stuff that people bring there require some soldering.



Jim

The number of people that are soldering may be rising, but the number of people that can do it properly is not. I see it everyday at work.

A cold solder joint is typically evidenced by a milky looking appearance, and non unform distribution of solder. On a post, or turret the solder should be bright and shiny, devoid of pits and contamination. It should have a wetted convex appearance where the wire meets the posts. On a pad the soldered joint should be convex in shape, bright and shiny, not pits or deformation and the wire ends of the component should be wetted over.
Any joint that has a "soldered ball" is suspect.
An overheated joint is actually a bigger problem than a cold joint, because it has typically damaged the pad, which requires a board repair first. It may appear as a cold joint, until you have to reheat it.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Mike,

In 1976 I attended a 1 week US Navy school on soldering. The final test was DIFFICULT!

[David L Morse]

Mike,

In 1976 I attended a 1 week US Navy school on soldering. The final test was DIFFICULT!
MIL-STD-2000 certification?

EDIT: Oops, in 1976 that would have been MIL-S-45743, right?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

MIL-STD-2000 certification?

EDIT: Oops, in 1976 that would have been MIL-S-45743, right?


David.....I forget which MIL-spec it was. It's been too long ago but it was a tough school! I learned a lot about soldering! BTW...I passed the final exam on the first try.

[Mike Cutler]

Ken

I did the Navy course also, sometime in the early 80's. Since then I have taken at least three "refreshers", been retested and certified for soldering, and board repair another three or four times, and still my work is inspected to QA standards.
Soldering is a skill that some folks have a "knack" for, and others not. I still do test joints for inspectability, mostly because I just don't do it as much as I used too. I hate using a mag lense, but I can't quite see molecules like I used too.:D

[Ken Fitzgerald]

After thinking about it.....I actually took that 1 week course in 1974. Too long ago to remember accurately!

[Garth Almgren]

Good catch, it makes you feel good when you can find something like that.

Bad solder joint can be a big problem for circuit boards. A lot of people just don't check a board over very well before they get a new one.

I had my AC go out in one of my cars, the dealer wanted $1200 for a new control board, the car was not worth much more then that. So I pulled the dash apart and took out the control board, after inspecting the board I found a bad solder joint and re-soldered it, worked like a champ.
Soldering is a good skill to learn.
When I bought my Jeep, half the gauges in the dash didn't work. I took the dash apart, and it turns out that one of the ground traces on a low spot of the flexible circuit board had corroded away, probably due to a leaking windshield gasket (which I fixed). I soldered a jumper over the bad spot and it's worked great ever since. I doubt new parts would have been cost effective even if they were available, and any used parts might have the same problem (or worse!).

My wife had a tiny Acer netbook with a broken power connector. I was able to order a new power connector for a few bucks on eBay but it turns out that I don't have the tools or skills to solder something that delicate and complicated (3 or 4 posts simultaneously, on something the size of a pencil eraser), so it's been sitting in a box in the closet ever since and we got her a new touchscreen laptop. :D