Akai Deep Impact repairs

Jerry J · #1 08-10-2009, 01:59 PM

Has anyone here actually performed their own repairs on a Deep Impact? (I just sent a note off to VST in SoCal to see if they still work on these.)

I'm just wondering if it's possible to DIY the repairs. It seems from what I've read that these can be riddled with cold solder joints.

Thanks!

niftydog · #2 08-10-2009, 10:15 PM

Reflowing solder joints is easy if you know how to solder, but that may or may not fix the fault. Just be careful about overheating the board or you may make things worse.

Jerry J · #3 08-10-2009, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by niftydog

Reflowing solder joints is easy if you know how to solder, but that may or may not fix the fault. Just be careful about overheating the board or you may make things worse.

I'm an old hand with an iron. I cut my teeth on 8 layer PC boards that had a ground plain from hades. I will say that working with the new RoHs stuff is a bit of a pain as it doesn't flow like the good old leaded stuff.

I was more curious that there might be some issues with getting into the pedal. Or getting to all of the leads. Anything outside the ordinary that I should be warned of?

niftydog · #4 08-10-2009, 10:26 PM

Lucky for you the DI should be pre-ROHS.

Going from fuzzy memory here, but getting to the underside of the main PCB is easy, but I think there's a sub-board carrying the pots/encoders etc that you might wanna check too. I don't think there's any leads at all - all PCB mount stuff. Shouldn't be anything beyond the ability of anyone who's handy with an iron and doesn't have ten thumbs, so I'd say go for it!