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A customer in my shop last week showed me a trick with a 0.5mm soldering tip I'd never seen

He was fixing an old Nintendo Game Boy and the power switch contacts were totally gunked up. He took a tiny piece of desoldering braid, folded it, and used it like a tiny abrasive ribbon to clean inside the switch housing without taking the whole board apart. It worked perfectly in about two minutes. Has anyone else found a clever use for braid beyond just wicking solder?
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3 Comments
jennyp19
jennyp1925d ago
That's a brilliant trick, honestly. I've used braid to clean crusty potentiometer tracks before, same basic idea. Just a tiny bit of flux on the braid first makes it work even better for scraping off that old carbon gunk. It saved a vintage synth from needing a full pot replacement, which was a huge relief.
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the_nathan
the_nathan25d ago
Flux on braid really does help get into those tiny tracks for a deep clean.
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noahcampbell
Yeah the flux is key, it lets the braid really bite into the track. I've found that a little extra pressure and a slow drag gets the last of the stubborn oxide layer off. Works on old guitar pedal pots too.
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