PCB Trace Repair

 
It is often not recommended to dish out lots of money for PCB trace repair every time something goes wrong. If you can learn to do it yourself with items you may already have, you will become more self-reliant and will save a lot of money in electronic repairs which are usually a circuit burnout.
 

Items You Will Need

• A small soldering iron (the smaller the better so you are able to locate the traces).
• A printed circuit board
• Someone to help you out.
• Flux

Your first job is to find the right spot where the trace needs repair. Usually traces are covered with polymer solder resist coating which keeps the trace intact you need to remove that in order to solder directly on top the copper trace. Get some extra wiring and out some solder on top of them. To avoid this last step you can just use braided wire.

When you are soldering the wire to the circuit board keep an eye out for whether it joins instantly or not.
For the time being you may need to use tape or the favorite of do-it-yourself item for enthusiasts everywhere which is super glue epoxy. If you are only practicing it is better to start with bigger traces which are easy to see and find and see how efficient you are at the task.

The same method is used when you want to add components to a trace that itself does not need repair. The epoxy method is very popular when you are trying to get a really durable finish where nothing is going to slide around as it sets rock solid in a matter of minutes.
 

Trace Repair Kits

If you are reluctant to try your hand at this you can buy a kit from a store which will often have directions as well as exact tools of what you need. In these kits you can expect to ready-made copper traces which are really easy to glue onto the circuit board using epoxy. You also don’t need to have epoxy at home; they provide already mixed packets with the right tools for applying them onto the traces delicately without spilling over the rest of the board.
 

Using A Conductive Pen

If you are willing to spend a bit more money you can invest in a conductor pen which is an electronic device with a sharp tip which is meant for fixing circuit boards and defective traces. If you buy just this one item you will not need a lot of other smaller and inefficient tools for getting the job done like dental picks. It incorporates the function of epoxy so you can just solder the traces back on in a matter of minutes without fear of spillage.

If you have multiple defective traces in one circuit board then this pen also has the added feature of not heating up quickly so you get a lot of time to individually replace wires and enhance electrical conductivity.