Hit 1,000 pin repairs on circuit boards last week and it got me thinking about standards

So I was going through my logbook and noticed I've done over 1,000 pin repairs on avionics boards in the last 3 years. That number surprised me because I started out dreading those tiny traces. Some guys swear by the epoxy method for lifted pads, others say just jumper wire everything and move on. I've had better luck with the conductive pen approach on older Collins gear, but on newer boxes it feels like a gamble every time. What's your go-to method for pin repairs that actually holds up long term?

2 comments

2 Comments

gavinh261mo ago

Man those tiny traces on older Collins gear drive me nuts. I still remember my first pin repair on a 1980s radio stack where I tried the epoxy method and ended up with a big ugly blob that looked like a melted crayon. Honestly though I've had better luck on old stuff just scraping the trace back a bit and using a tiny bit of solder instead of those fancy conductive pens. They never seem to hold up when the temp changes in the hangar.

the_shane1mo ago

My first attempt at scraping a trace on a King radio ended up looking like a toddler's art project with way too much solder lol. Gavin nailed it though, those conductive pens are garbage when the hangar drops below freezing. I've been scraping and soldering ever since and never looked back.