Hardware Where to buy for reflow?

[codezer0]

In short, one of my friends at work had their 20GB model ps3 YLOD on them. They'd since bought a new slim, but still has the 'husk' of the old one laying there.

He's offering to sell it to me for $20, which gave me the idea to see what I could do to rescue it from this situation. I know a proper reflow would require a heat gun, but wouldn't know where to buy one, exactly.

So, reflowers, where do you go for yours? I'm half tempted to go for it, and if I can bring it back from the dead, it would give me either a nice experimental PS3 to mess with and stuff.

And at least, a backup if ever my CECHA01 went out.

The more info I can to make an informed decision, the better.

 

[mocalacace]

Ill buy it off you cause I'm looking for a ps3 and I can reflow it. Or if you want I could reflow it for you

 

[codezer0]

I haven't bought the 20gig yet. But I'm tempted to do so, get the necessary tools, as it would then let me do a bit of a business locally.

If I know what I'd need, that is... obviously won't be able to do anything like reballing its chips, but even a good reflow should be enough to help me earn some cash on the side.

 

[Trulen]

Got mine from Lowes for I think 25 dollars.

Reflowed a friend's twice already.

Be warned - it's not a permenant fix.
It's gonna yellow light again.

My friends yellow lighted about 3 months after the first fix,
and then about 2.5 after the second.

But, a $35 startup cost (+10 for Arctic Silver (Silver-based, not porcelyn) thermal paste) is what it'll cost you the first time, where as the variable cost from then on is only $10 a fix (you don't have to buy the heat gun more than once).

And then, try about $5 for a Torx-10 screwdriver, more or less depending on what kit you got.
It's a fixed cost, so only add it the first time. Still $10 thereout.

 

[mocalacace]

Yeah you just need a cheap heatgun from Lowes. My dad had one so I just use his. But like he said its not a permanent fix, and it most likely will ylod within 6 months. But I'm still willing to buy it cause I've been looking for a PS3 and I dont want to buy a new one

 

[FAST6191]

Yeah you can reflow with a paint stripper if you wanted (just be careful about popcorning) and "proper" heat guns tend to come from the same places.

If you fancied spending a bit* though you can get stuff like http://www.ownta.com/lt-5030-infrared-rework-station.html and http://www.ownta.com/wholesale-dropship-re...epairing-tools/ (my apologies for such a link- that site is worse than a gadget magazine for "ooooh" I want one of them).
That sort of stuff is but a step away from the full on BGA rework stuff and comes with nice fix lifetimes.

*consoles are not the only things that suffer from bad BGA designs- pretty much all of electronics uses it and I have seen them cause issues in all of them (phones, motherboards, DVD players, handhelds, the consoles, graphics cards, high end custom test gear- it might be $70 worth of parts but when it ships for $1000 and has no real service opportunities.....). Obviously it is up to you but done properly straight up return on investment is sooner rather than later let alone the knock on effects.

 

[codezer0]

Well, an update for everyone...

Bought myself a heatgun and got the donor ps3 here. A CECHB, currently with a 40GB hard drive in it. The 'cage' that normally holds it in place is missing... but the disk connection works.

Did the reflow process, following the instructions on this particular video: http://youtu.be/Vr1zyAGwnuU?hd=1 Cleaned off a crap-ton of dust, reflowed, put some Arctic Silver 5 (as that's all I currently have on hand), put it back together.

Good news... it works. No yellow light!

Bad news... For whatever reason, the connector on the motherboard that takes the BD drive's ribbon cable doesn't seem to want to stay on, and currently can't really operate the disk drive. I fear that the retaining clip might be broken there

Any suggestions?

 

[synce]

Yeah spend about 5 minutes trying to get the ribbon perfect... I broke the clip on mine too and it's a pain in the ass every time I reflow it (who cares if it's not permanent, it's cheap and quick lol)

 

[DeadlyFoez]

Most of the time that ppl try to do a reflow with a heat gun they never end up getting the chip to actually reflow, hence why it is not a permanent fix. What usually happens is that the board heats up enough to flex it and make contact at those solder pads.

A proper reflow requires a reflow oven. Even if you were to get the chip to actually reflow with a heat gun the board will have flexed so much that many more solder balls are not touching their solder pads and some will even be squished and make things even worse. A proper reflow can not be obtained by using a heat gun. The whole PCB needs to be evenly heated for it to not flex or warp.

If the PCB was something smaller like a stick of RAM or a wiimote then you can get away with reflowing it with a heatgun, but a big PCB like the PS3 mobo that has really large bga chips can not be fixed properly with a heatgun.

Ppl have been trying the heatgun trick with 360's for a long time, and the fix never lasts for the same reasons as written above.


Also, the use of flux is a huge help and even needed if it is your second attempt to reflow.