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General NLG Chat => The Slot Shop **Tech Talk** => Topic started by: Buzz on June 05, 2011, 05:44:21 AM



Title: Broken leg eprom
Post by: Buzz on June 05, 2011, 05:44:21 AM
I don't know which topic this should be in ??

Couple of weeks ago I was in Bullhead and broke one of the  legs off of one of Joey's SB eprom. And of course we didn't have a back up file.  I've been giving it some thought, so today I brought the broken chip home with me. The picture tells the whole story, it worked. I had to read the chip 3 or 4 times before I got the point in exactly right place but I'm pretty sure I got a good read.  SB100661 with a check sum of  3DA8


Title: Re: Broken leg eprom
Post by: reho33 on June 05, 2011, 05:53:08 AM
Now you will burn to a blank?


Title: Re: Broken leg eprom
Post by: Buzz on June 05, 2011, 06:03:52 AM
Now you will burn to a blank?

Joey has already found a replacement.  I just did this to see if I could, and maybe someday I may need this information that if a leg gets broken all isn't lost.  If a leg gets broken down around the middle I just solder a new leg on and that works very well.


Title: Re: Broken leg eprom
Post by: jdkmunch on June 05, 2011, 08:58:48 AM
I hate broken legs.

I have ruined 3 or 4 chips. It's very discouraging.

I use a bent screwdriver now. That seems
To do the trick.


Title: Re: Broken leg eprom
Post by: reho33 on June 05, 2011, 05:34:02 PM
What if it's broken off at the chip surface? Can't fix that. And how is a new leg soldered on? I tried and don't have the proper tools/patience for that.


Title: Re: Broken leg eprom
Post by: Buzz on June 05, 2011, 06:09:23 PM
If you look close at the picture you will see that leg is broken right at the top.  It wasn't a question of repairing the chip, it was a question of reading the chip so I could burn the files into a new one.

A leg that's broken part way down, I have what I call a Donner chip and I break a leg from it as close to top as possible. I use soldering flux on everything, a dab of flux and a dab of solder on the broken leg of the chip your trying to save. ( I should add, the solder heated and stuck to the broken leg) Holding the Donner leg with a pair of pliers hold it where you want it on the receiving chip and touch it with the soldering iron. The solder will flow from one leg to the other and bonding the two together.  That's all there is to it, it doesn't matter that the receiving chips leg is double thickens toward the top.


Title: Re: Broken leg eprom
Post by: stayouttadabunker on June 06, 2011, 12:20:39 AM
On a pinball website, a guy had a broken leg right at the point where the leg comes out of the body.
What he did was take a very sharp Exacto knife and cut the black chip body around
the broken area and expose a tiny piece of the chip leg inside.
(Think of digging out the soil and rocks over the coal tracks from a fallen miner tunnel )
 well, maybe something lighter than a mining disaster...lol

With the tiniest of the chip body cut away and re-exposing a partial piece of the leg, he was able to
apply some solder flux, a touch of solder adhered to the exposed leg
and from there - a piece of wire was attached.
Doing the same thing Buzz did- he was able to "read" the chips contents and save it to his computer.


Title: Re: Broken leg eprom
Post by: reho33 on June 06, 2011, 01:03:43 AM
Or you could just install ZIF sockets for the chips and no more broken and bent pins.


Title: Re: Broken leg eprom
Post by: tjkeller on June 06, 2011, 02:16:16 AM
Nice work Buzz!   :3-