Recapping for the first time

[370forlife]

I am going to order a recapping kit for my VP6 and finally get to using this thing. But, I don't want to ruin this board in the process. Is recapping as hard as it sounds? I can get a few old motherboards I can practice on (maybe unsolder some caps from two motherboards of the same uf and voltage, and switch them around....) idk, get some practice in and see if i'm any good at it. I have a friend that can do it, he won't charge me, but I want to get good at doing it myself.

[kc8adu]

Re: Recapping for the first time

yes practice on trash till you get good at it.
the vp6 is not difficult to recap.
easy for me to say after doing several hundred ;-)

[willawake]

Re: Recapping for the first time

definitely practice.
add new solder to the existing before you remove the caps or you are going nowhere fast
use a 60-80w iron with chisel tip 450oC.

the most important part is to be comfortable. damages happen when you are not paying attention and the iron slips or you are tired or you rush cos you are finishing
if you are getting nowhere with the removal or clearing the holes then you should modify the technique. dont persist with the same technique until your hand is tired because the board is now dead probably

be careful of traces right next to the cap hole. that is where you dont want to heat for looong time.

if you are clearing with a needle and getting nowhere then add solder to the other side and try there too.

your first board would be a day job for the weekend not when a few hours are remaining in the evening.

its not difficult. older boards are easiest

[yanz]

Re: Recapping for the first time

its not difficult. older boards are easiest

agree on that..

[Super Nade]

Re: Recapping for the first time

Absolutely..old boards are very nice to recap...

Also as willa says, add a gob of solder before you attempt to remove the cap or you will have a nice burn on the PCB.

[Newbie2]

Re: Recapping for the first time

Also as willa says, add a gob of solder before you attempt to remove the cap or you will have a nice burn on the PCB.

Agree!

Also, working on an older motherboard is much easier than the newer ones. My soldering iron's tip is a 375c tip, which isn't hot enough for the newer motherboards. On an older motherboard, with a little patience and time I can recap it. On a newer motherboard (P4 and newer), it is almost impossible for me to recap it without getting something totally messed up, to the point that I have to put out my drill to drill through the holes.