I have started on the G.I. section with all the hacks. It is pretty bad. One of the heat-sinks was held to the board by silicon & most of the solder pads are stuffed or missing. some of the components were held in by there legs being bent back up through the board and soldered to the next component or to pieces of wire. they were nearly just floating there.
All the screw holding the triacs to the heat-sinks were loose so most of the damage has been done because the triacs have been running super hot. The rest of the damage has been done with a big hot soldering iron.
Then there is the vero board that two of the fuse holders are soldered to.
I am now tossing up on whether I should make a new small pcb to go in were the vero board is, jumper the damaged solder pads & some how keep the floating components in place.
Or make a daughter board with the full G.I. section on it. The design I have in mind will plug into U1 via a wire wrap I.C. socket and i will put U1 on the daughter board & a couple of plugs that plug into the existing board for the G.I circuits. The whole daughter board will be held in by stand-offs that will be attached where the original heat-sinks are soldered so the whole board is removable for repairs.
I know it won't look original but for this board to be reliable I think the daughter board is the way to go.
I will talk to the owner of the board about the options and get his go ahead first.
I have posted some pics to show how bad the board is and the floating parts.
Does any one have other ideas on how to over come this?
