On Sat, 13 Jan 2001, Bala Chandar wrote: > I would like to know the experience of anyone who has used conductive silver > ink for repairing tracks on a PCB. > > I have a handy Casio solar calculator. It is quite thin and has a nice big > display. Once it got wet in the rain and after that certain segments are > missing in the digits. An examination of the PCB reveals that the board is a > thin mylar sheet and all the tracks are made of conductive polymer. Some > tracks need to be repaired. I am wondering whether to buy the silver ink > from the market. The 10ml pack costs roughly twice as much as the calculator > itself! > > Are there less costly alternatives available for repairing polymer tracks on > a PCB? > Any suggestions please? I have used a soft lead pencil to repair tracks made by diffusing metal onto plastic, such as the old Sinclair computer keyboard cables. Mine got disassembled frequently and developed hairline cracks. I used a pencil with #2 or softer lead... worked like a charm. It's a little delicate, but doesn't cost anything to re-do. My father tells me that in the "old days" (like 1930's/40's) they would occasionally use pencil lead for resistors... Dale --- The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny ..." -- Isaac Asimov -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics