Game Gear Recapping

[Anonymous No.8054407]

Got drunk&high and had a manic episode and decided what better project for me than to buy an old game gear and recap and replace the LCD!

I just spent 80$ on a game gear, and like $160 importing a USB clean power, recapping kit, lcd screen replacement - all sorts of bad ass stuff that I’m a little bit anxious now about.

I am pretty decent at soldering easy mods like I’ve done my sega Saturn, game cube, fixed up other electronics but nothing like recapping. Have any of you guys experience with it? I have a shitty nexttech soldering iron, I think I’d like to invest in a better rig if you have any suggestions or links (if allows)

[Anonymous No.8054464]

>>8054407
Good luck. I don't know shit about repairing this stuff.

[Anonymous No.8054497]

I can program chips on a low level, and can completely repair a console as long as certain processors are in tact. If they are in tact you can test what power they want and insert what resistor/transistor you want to match.

It's just electronics repair. It was a big skill before smartphones, now everything is made like a big smartphone and it's a 1 piece item. Think PS5, it's just a big smartphone. TVs are like that, you use to have to know about electronics to repair all kinda of shit 10 years ago and before that, now you don't, so nobody is learning the skill anymore.

[Anonymous No.8054546]

Op here - just nervous about applying too much heat I guess in attempt to desolder the original capacitors. Any words of wisdom will do too. Or if you ever ran into some troubles and what to look out for.

And also like mentioned tried and true tools of the trade. To be honest I don’t really wanna be multimetering every spot on the thing, I was just gonna give each cap a go and see what happens. Is that something that can really help me though knowing if I did it right?

[Anonymous No.8054703]

>>8054407
The actual tools don't matter so much, so long as they work properly. I paid $5 for my soldering iron and it works great.

That being said, make sure you have a way to remove the old solder. Either a braid or a sucker. Personally I prefer the pump sucker pens. The Gane Gear capacitors are through-hole so this is necessary. Pick whichever one you're better with.

Rather than try to desolder the capacitors themselves, go through and clip the edge of all of the capacitors. Then, go through again and desolder the legs. Remove all the solder and make sure those holes are clean and the legs are gone. Once that's done make sure you have a good diagram of where everything goes and adding the new capacitors will be easy at that point.

[Anonymous No.8054707]

>>8054703
*clip the legs, not the edge. Sorry, typo.

[Anonymous No.8054724]

Thanks anon!

Can you link solder iron tips that work best for it then? I guess temperature isn’t necessary to be dialed in, the straight up no set temp irons will be fine.

Do you use rosin flux? I’d like to attempt a mcwil lcd mod but looked intimidating. The guy was soldering everything with like no regard. I believe he called it a bridge or something. But like to me it just seemed like everything was or would then be coated?! I’m just gonna go with a no wire replacement lcd

[Anonymous No.8054735]

>>8054703
You can mod a turkey baster if jackholes try to rip you off for the remover but that IS A GREAT TIP HE MUST FOLLOW. Always remove the old solder when you desolder because it had garbage in it the second you melt it

ANOTHER TIP HE MUST FOLLOW:
Clean the place up good as fuck before you solder

AND ANOTHER TIP HE MUST FOLLOW:
use flux to make sure atmosphere doesn't get between your solder and sufrace when you put your solder down DESUWA.

[Anonymous No.8054753]

>>8054724
>solder iron tips
My iron has one too lol

>flux
Always use flux

[Anonymous No.8054761]

>>8054735
I thought cleaning and flux were common sense but I guess it needs mentioning

[Anonymous No.8054772]

>>8054761
What can I say, im a dirty motherfucker.
So instead of just desoldering and soldering over, you guys will actually clean up the contact eh.. I guess I could do that to some of my old solders too. I worried that if I heat them up to the point to get some of the solder off though that it can fry some shit inside. Alot of these older solders seem to take a Long while until my tip will heat them up enough to loosen them off. Could a hotter soldering iron or tip do better?


>>8054753
yes dipshit, all irons have tips - im asking if you can link one that works best for these type of ic's and soldering them. I think the tip I got right now is too wide and wouldn't be great for something o precise

[Anonymous No.8054796]

>>8054772
I recently did a bunch of cap replacements including an entire 5501 board using a Pinecil.

[Anonymous No.8054824]

>>8054796
>Pinecil
Did you like this? I have used battery operated one before but it was like one that would solder as it detected where it was supposed to - it worked like garbage. This one is portable, and just stays constant? thanks for the tip Anon!

Recommend this over having a station with like grips, and magnifying lense and stuff?

[Anonymous No.8054848]

>>8054824
It is really great for its price.

[Anonymous No.8054930]

>>8054772
>I worried that if I heat them up to the point to get some of the solder off though that it can fry some shit inside.
What I usually do is add some flex and then put some new solder on the old solder. Then I use the spring pen thing to suck it all off.

> yes dipshit, all irons have tips - im asking if you can link one that works best
My iron has a single tip. I can't replace it to my knowledge. I guess it looks like it might be possible but I don't own other tips. I have the yellow one.

[Anonymous No.8054931]

add flux, not flex

[Anonymous No.8055118]

>>8054930
You just unscrew the screw in the neck and take the head out...............

[Anonymous No.8055131]

>>8055118
Sorry anon but I don't think my penis works that way.

[Anonymous No.8055154]

>>8054930
Damn, what a piece of shit.

[Anonymous No.8055373]

>>8054930
>game-gear-recap with that iron
rip gamegear

[Anonymous No.8055386]

>>8055154
It works ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ All that a soldering iron needs to do is get hot.

>>8055373
Why? I already recapped it almost a year ago. It wasn't working at all and I resurrected it. There's no damage to the board. Follow the advice I gave earlier in this thread. If you can't do an easy solder job with a cheap iron like replacing caps then you're probably retarded.

The iron is cheap but it's Japanese made. It's much better than a cheap Chinese iron would be.

[Anonymous No.8055953]

>>8054407
That is a lot of money. I wish I had known, since I've not done any of this before, and the youtube tutorial https://youtu.be/vIT4ra6Mo0s bore me to sleep every time I start watching. I was told this is a decent one from China after a required mod, which is the catch22 as I've not soldered and I cannot use this iron on itself. So I need to get another iron to fix this iron so I can start to learn to do the work. Every non-work day I think I should get started on removing and replacing the Xbox clock capacitor and buy the required equipment but I get tired or the price just puts me off. Everyone here says to learn to do this kind of work, but no one but you ever mention how expensive and cost prohibitive it is. Since you already have an iron, maybe this Ksger one is right for you. I also have a GameGear which will probably need a recapping too, and I am jealous you got that done.

[Anonymous No.8056259]

Which of these do you buy for the job.

My soldering iron turned out to be a wood burning kit iron- so I need to upgrade

[Anonymous No.8056286]

>>8056259
you pay for quality. The cheap shitty $20 ones are trash.

[Anonymous No.8056474]

>>8054931
If you have rosin core solder though do you still need rosin flux?

[Anonymous No.8056536]

>>8056286
Yeah even if you pay for chink T12's because Hakko doesn't give a fuck anymore, its still 2000% better than a $20 iron.

[Anonymous No.8056568]

>>8056536
>>8056286
He already has a t12 clone. They come fucked from the factory so he needs an iron to fix it.

Just get whatever. Maybe a butane torch one so you could torch stuff later

[Anonymous No.8056578]

>>8054407
I couldn't cope with the screen of my old GG anymore so I did the RGB and controller mods.

[Anonymous No.8057029]

>>8054546
Tried to decap a console as a noob, had a rough time due to the cap eating a bunch of the heat. My advice would be a ton of no-clean flux, heat set to just above where the solder would melt, tinning your iron before you go to remove the tin on the caps, and using a good wick. Technique wise, be patient and alternate between legs of the cap as you apply pressure on the other end and slowly walk it out of the board.
Also: consider your tip and whether you have good application of heat.

[Anonymous No.8057045]

>>8055953
Minimum viable dollar value for getting into soldering is $40 USD. You can get a chinese iron with temperature control to start, and decent consumables for that much. Looking at the pic you posted, you went halfway to full retard buying a (de)solder gun with extra fine tips? That is pretty expensive.

[Anonymous No.8058163]

>>8057029
Link me to a good solder iron. I wanted to but am struggling to find a double top tweezer style one, I feel that the desolder will go easier. Wouldn’t mind a single tip one but should come with options for tips to change right?

[Anonymous No.8060197]

>>8058163
Please

[Anonymous No.8060379]

>>8058163
ts080
pinecil
t12 clones (ksger, quicko)

[Anonymous No.8060384]

>>8060379
ts80*

[Anonymous No.8060418]

>>8054546
Buy chipquik, it'll make your life easier use very tiny pieces of it.

[Anonymous No.8062068]

I did one a while ago and it was the first soldiering thing I ever did. It is nerv racking but it turned out fine. Didnt replace screen but thats the easy part.

[Anonymous No.8062185]

>>8055953
Are them chink desolder guns worth it? I really need a desolder gun but the 250 for the hakko is a bit steep

[Anonymous No.8062194]

banggood.com/V2_1S-T12-Digital-Temperature-Controller-Soldering-Station-Electric-Soldering-Iron-Tips-T12-K-907-Handle-p-1338117.html

Have this one from China, works really good.

[Anonymous No.8062257]

I have a Ksger T12 setup I got off Aliexpress that I'm happy with for all my modchip needs, not sure if it'd be precise enough. On a different note, as a bipolar anon myself, are you still manic OP? Can't tell you how many times I've caught myself on that train of thought, hope you're okay.

[Anonymous No.8062290]

>>8062257
Just get a more precise tip?

If you're worried about actual too temp, you need a calibration station

[Anonymous No.8062318]

>>8054497
Anon I want to learn to understand electronic devices the way that you describe. Could you give me some suggestions on what resources to consult, particularly on analyzing and understanding unknown boards and chips?

[Anonymous No.8062331]

>>8054703
Maybe this varies by revision, but the mainboard PCBs in the last two GGs I saw were surface-mount; Only the sound and power boards were through-hole.

[Anonymous No.8062378]

My least favorite is when I just can't get the solder out of a through-hole of a multiplayer PCB and I also can't access more than one side of it.

[Anonymous No.8062878]

>>8062290
>>8062257
getting tiny tips may sound reasonable, but it just makes soldering harder due to lack of temperature you can transport onto the solder, especially when soldering to a big ground-plane.

"as big as possible, as small as absolutely necessary"
2.4mm chisel tip may be a good allrounder tip for everything, even when soldering 0.8 or 0.5 pitch
ps: flux, flux, flux

[Anonymous No.8063452]

Is this decent enough tip?

[Anonymous No.8064059]

>>8063452
is the iron looking like >>8054930 ?

[Anonymous No.8064496]

>>8064059
It’s not special. 30w made in China, nexttech branded but like Im gonna be doing more repair and tinkering than just this. So I don’t mind getting something that is highly recommended as a good station or something. I considered a gun but I don’t think that’s useful for game console modding is it? The tweezer style soldering iron I’m not having an easy time locating, so if I’m just gonna upgrade my current iron for another, at least it should come recommended

[Anonymous No.8065272]

>>8058163
>>8060197
not exactly sure what you mean by
>double top tweezer style one
...but I went for a pinecil with all their tips. It's been decent, though you trade a smaller thermal mass for its ergonomics. If I need the mass, I run max spec wattage/voltage for the power supply and a little hotter for the temperature setting (15-25 F).

The suggestions in >>8060379 are generally "good". Your original pic might also be good for you once you experiment with a few boards that you don't care about.

>>8060418
Chipquik saved my noob ass a lot of headache.

[Anonymous No.8065591]

What is chipquik I looked it up and it’s a site with a tonne of products. WhAt product in specific are you guys mentioning

[Anonymous No.8065620]

>>8065272
>>double top tweezer style one
In talking about this style iron
one

In this guys YouTube repair it looked handy
youtu be/J9qSSd5qVFM

[Anonymous No.8065658]

I'd generally suggest for newbies to soldering to use an iron with adjustable temperature (they are really cheap now) and leaded solder (it's just easier to use and cheap). Also get some kind of flux to make life easier and some isopropyl alcohol/rubbing alcohol to clean up the board and flux left over.

You can and I have soldered electronics like this with those old sticks you plug into the wall so it's not like it's impossible, just not as easy and fun. The high temperature solder (like most the cheap unleaded) can be a problem for them sometimes so you spend more dwell time heating things.

[Anonymous No.8065671]

Oh yeah and if you're doing a lot of soldering make sure there's airflow as you don't want to breathe in FLUX FUMES for too long. It can give you the "flux flu" where feel like you've been huffing paint or something. You're not going to drop dead but it might make you feel bad.

[Anonymous No.8065694]

>>8056259
If you're not doing much you can get a knock-off Hakko (or other brand) from Banggood or aliexpress/ebay. It can use the tip systems from those companies. Knock offs aren't as good but if you're going to be using it five times in a lifetime there's no point in buying someting expensive.

Likewise a cheap spring loaded solder sucker and some solder wick will do the job for removing old molten solder easy enough without needing those vaccuum pump systems (I've got one and it's cool) which are great but overkill if you won't be doing much.

If you're getting into a hobby of electronics specifically and stick with it you can upgrade later but this way you won't be out much money if it isn't your thing. The sky is the limit for what you can spend on electronics hobby and repair kit.

Make sure the flux and the solder you are using is not corrosive either, so that it doesn't rot the board or your tools. It will say on the packaging or from the vendor if it is. Saves you making goofs.

[Anonymous No.8065720]

>>8065694
>>8065671
Flux , rosin flux? Or do you use the jelly paste stuff? I used only the liquid stuff once befor but honestly never knew this stuff was hella important

[Anonymous No.8066586]

>>8065720
no idea what you mean with "jelly paste stuff" and "liquid stuff".
flux is not important, it just makes soldering hell of a lot easier.

[Anonymous No.8067169]

>>8066586
I mean this shit - from chipquik tacky flux, flux paste, liquid flux, what’s the prefered

[Anonymous No.8067274]

>>8067169
Having a liquid flux pen or syringe dropper is good for some parts. When it's really nasty or smd work tacky flux is good.

Make sure it's no clean, and then clean it anyway.

[Anonymous No.8067637]

>>8067274
And what would be the chipquik stuff ppl are saying specifically, bc I don’t see a product I see a storefront or tonne of product

[Anonymous No.8067756]

>>8067637
just a big name brand which offers flux, solder etc.

[Anonymous No.8068349]

>>8067756
>>8067637
Anon was talking about chip quick's main product. It's a special solder alloy that is extremely low temperature. You can add just a dab to a piece you are trying to remove, like a big smd chip, and then it keeps the whole thing liquid much longer than normal solder. You add a bit to all the joints, then go around one more time quick so everything is hot, then you can pick it off

[Anonymous No.8069612]

Survival bump

[Anonymous No.8069617]

>>8068349
>>8067637

#4 the chipquick alloy shit in
>>8067169

[Anonymous No.8070036]

I have this KSGER station, and from my experience 90% of time D type tips will do the trick. Just a tip. I mostly work on 360 C temp, 300-315 was not cutting for me.

[Anonymous No.8070769]

>>8054407
are you literally me.... just getting out of manic episode and was modding some old saturns and gamecubes and was thinking of getting some GG with all the m2 hype

[Anonymous No.8070848]

>>8070769
What is m2 hype?

Congrats on the productive episode!!

[Anonymous No.8070852]

Ahh - I see now- M2 is that new game gear game aleste. cool

What is the type of tape I am supposed to buy? "cap tape"? Is that Polyimide film? I am talking about the kind that you use to tape down loose wires and stuff.

thanks all anons!

[Anonymous No.8071356]

>>8070852
just still need an answer to this question

[Anonymous No.8071380]

>>8071356
Kapton tape

[Anonymous No.8072614]

>>8071380
Thank you