Flexible circuit board repair?

[Harry Klippton]

Long shot question here but do any of you have experience with repairing flexible circuit boards? I don't have an issue repairing the traces but if there's no structural support, they're not very durable. The board needs to remain flexible to function properly. Using jumper wire probably won't work due to space constraints

 

[Betty Wont]

Kapton tape is your friend

 

[Harry Klippton]

Kapton tape is your friend

Is it insulated or conductive?

 

[Betty Wont]

Is it insulated or conductive?

Insulated. Use it as a flexible mask over traces and/or substrate..

 

[jessenator]

worse case scenario, kludge a new flexible connector from kapton and wires? a sandwich

 

[jwin615]

JLC makes flexible PCBs.
Or etch your own

 

[Harry Klippton]

JLC makes flexible PCBs.
Or etch your own

There are multiple flexible board sections soldered together flat. I don't need to potentially make things even worse

 

[jwin615]

Pics?

 

[Harry Klippton]

Pics?

Nah

 

[jwin615]

Nah

Can't judge validity of duct tape

 

[jessenator]

Pics?

he did, but gotta sleuth

 

[jwin615]

Yeah, nah. Stabilizing that is gonna be tough.
Desolder from the jack
Scratch off the mask, clean with ipa and either
A) attempt to repair with trace repair stickers
B)spice in a flat ribbon cable

Then reinforce the broken/patched bits with epoxy. Add kapton as a strain relief.
Resolder
More epoxy.

Another option, replace the whole thing with a bodged ribbon cable.

Surely that's not a tascam. Looks more like a ZOOM product.

 

[tegendemuur]

Nah

C'mon, we're not judgemental here. It's a safe space. Pinky promise...

 

[Harry Klippton]

Kapton tape acquired. I'm not sure unsoldering the jack is a good idea.

 

[HamishR]

Yeah, nah. Stabilizing that is gonna be tough.
Desolder from the jack
Scratch off the mask, clean with ipa and either
A) attempt to repair with trace repair stickers
B)spice in a flat ribbon cable

Then reinforce the broken/patched bits with epoxy. Add kapton as a strain relief.
Resolder
More epoxy.

Another option, replace the whole thing with a bodged ribbon cable.

Surely that's not a tascam. Looks more like a ZOOM product.

I didn't know you spoke Australian! Yeah/nah is classic Aussie. Where in Australia are you from?

 

[szukalski]

Pics?

Nah

It’s a DS-1.

 

[Hal Harvey]

Is it like this stuff?

 

[jwin615]

I didn't know you spoke Australian! Yeah/nah is classic Aussie. Where in Australia are you from?

Tennessee.
Probably because I watched Crocodile Dundee obsessively as a young boy.

In all seriousness.. No idea when/where I picked it up.

 

[Harry Klippton]

Is it like this stuff?

Yes except the flex board is not on a flat plane, there's no slack, and then it's epoxied and soldered to a jack

 

[Hal Harvey]

Yes except the flex board is not on a flat plane, there's no slack, and then it's epoxied and soldered to a jack

I'll stick with 1940s technology. Even asbestos sounds more appealing than that.