USB Pendrive Repair -

[Hiten]

Forum is becoming quiet.
Hope no one minds a little bragging thread.

Recently a friend who is an accountant broke his pendrive. (His Wifey put his shirt in washing machine) All his six months client account details were in the pendrive. It was in two pieces (Plastic holder and PCB came loose) with 4 pcb tracks and a 2 solder joint of through hole in PCB broken. I tried to repair it thinking what could go wrong. I had filed my normal soldering iron tip to make it pointy. I am not famous for my soldering skill so I managed to totally destroy the PCB tracks:lol:.

Thinking not to give up I made micro jumpers of 2/3 copper wire strands and soldered them to the open track. after few attempts it got hold of the scrapped tracks and Surprise! the Pendrive is working again. Took backup on my harddisk superglued the joints assembled the casing and gave it to my friend.

I am not gadget freak but recently got a new smartphone with 13 MP camera. Which was put to good use. I had few projector/DVD lens and a Loupe by which I took the pictures. Please see attached pictures. Also took pics of my Technics Stylus. PCB pics are with loupe and stylus with projector lens of around 10mm. dia.

Red arrow are points where the joints were broken (2 were below the PCB)
Orange Arrow PCB Tracks scrapped to make solder joint
Cyan Arrow 2 strand copper wire.

Making nonworking thing working again made me happy so sharing with you all.

Regards.

 

[Vivek Rao]

Good Job Hiten.. Thats what DIY is all about. I am sure the smile on your friends face when you handed him the stick with all the data intact was well worth all this trouble.
Its nice to see that the burnt track or soldering skill did not deter you.

Khudos to you & Cheers !

 

[Hiten]

Yes vivek he was very much relieved. All client account info of Tally Software was on his pendrive as his laptop was giving him problems.
Regards.

 

[jls001]

Wow, Hiten I'm truly impressed with both achievements - the micro surgery and the fantastic shots of the stylus.

Please explain more how to get such close up shots.

 

[Hiten]

Sure Joshua. I will take lens etc. stuff pics and post soon.
Regards.

 

[omishra]

Excellent work. Not only your friend but it made me too happy. Sometime if tracks are very small like this case then just keep small solder balls (1mm dia) on the pads with the help of solder flux or wax. Then prehit oven (not microwave) to 350 deg Celsius. Place your PCB on wooden spoon or anything wooden to protect backside. Just insert it into oven for 3 sec and take it out. Complete this insertion and taking out within 6-7 sec. It should melt solder balls in presence of flux and you grt reflowed solder joint.

 

[krell]

good job.nice efforts

 

[Hiten]

G.M.
Thats very clever technique OM. Thanks for sharing. In fact we do have vintage oven (No longer in use but working) with heating coil and temp. marking, gets extremely hot. Your idea will be useful in future. Thanks again.
Regards

 

[csricharan]

Lovely work. Reminds me of my repair of the leaf spring inside the left click button of my computer mouse. Though what you did is far more complicated.

Sent from my PLK-UL00 using Tapatalk

 

[Hiten]

Incoming... :lol:

here are pictures and mock (rather crude) setup to take closeup pictures. I guess with proper lens (achromatic ? ) and light and control to move object/lens/mobile camera it can further be improved. You will need convex lens a good light source (Mine is rechargeable reading lamp) in addition to plenty of ambient light.

First picture (1) is of various lens I have. They have different focal length. A mix lot of convex and concave. We need convex lens. The thicker ones have shorter focal length so object-lens-camera needs to be very close. For example DVD lens (the tiny one at bottom left). The right Blue one is a marker pen plastic end to hold a lens. Basic thing is we need stable fixing of all three items to get clear pictures. I usually fix lens and move object to get it in focus then place mobile camera. The desired target area should be in center of the lens and camera. The shorter focal length lens gets more closeup detail but focus area becomes very small.

Second and third (2)(3) picture is of jig I set up. Such setups need trial and error. (My old phone in pic is for demonstration purpose only. The stylus and ballpen nib were taken by replacing it with my new phone) I also have taken pictures with hands only with 2mp non auto focus camera. LINK Modern high megapixel auto focus cameras are pain. But with 3/4 snaps you get one good picture easily. Some mobile camera have manual settings. Do try them.

Fourth Picture (4) is a of tiny lens holder made of plastic and held by rubberband. If you are taking pics with DVD/CD lens this may be helpful. The picture in above link of diyAudio was taken by such method. The stylus picture along with it is by different lens.

Fifth picture (5) is of Loupe setup. Such lens are used by diamond merchants, Clothe merchants and Printing press to see closeup of objects. This is the easiest jig. As these are foldable and with friction hinges which are immense help in adjusting focus. Once adjusted they stay put. My USB pendrive pics in first post and Ballpen nib here were by these.

Hope this helps.

Regards.

 

[SanjeevM]

Great work !! Impressed by your ingenuity.

 

[reubensm]

very nice Hiten, great spirit. Always a great feeling when DIY comes through with successful results.

 

[Hiten]

Thanks Sanjeev and Reuben. I am experimenting with multiple lenses(Just like simple microscope). If results are good will post soon.
Best Regards.

 

[sandeep.km.singh]

Incoming... [emoji38]

here are pictures and mock (rather crude) setup to take closeup pictures. I guess with proper lens (achromatic ? ) and light and control to move object/lens/mobile camera it can further be improved. You will need convex lens a good light source (Mine is rechargeable reading lamp) in addition to plenty of ambient light.

First picture (1) is of various lens I have. They have different focal length. A mix lot of convex and concave. We need convex lens. The thicker ones have shorter focal length so object-lens-camera needs to be very close. For example DVD lens (the tiny one at bottom left). The right Blue one is a marker pen plastic end to hold a lens. Basic thing is we need stable fixing of all three items to get clear pictures. I usually fix lens and move object to get it in focus then place mobile camera. The desired target area should be in center of the lens and camera. The shorter focal length lens gets more closeup detail but focus area becomes very small.

Second and third (2)(3) picture is of jig I set up. Such setups need trial and error. (My old phone in pic is for demonstration purpose only. The stylus and ballpen nib were taken by replacing it with my new phone) I also have taken pictures with hands only with 2mp non auto focus camera. LINK Modern high megapixel auto focus cameras are pain. But with 3/4 snaps you get one good picture easily. Some mobile camera have manual settings. Do try them.

Fourth Picture (4) is a of tiny lens holder made of plastic and held by rubberband. If you are taking pics with DVD/CD lens this may be helpful. The picture in above link of diyAudio was taken by such method. The stylus picture along with it is by different lens.

Fifth picture (5) is of Loupe setup. Such lens are used by diamond merchants, Clothe merchants and Printing press to see closeup of objects. This is the easiest jig. As these are foldable and with friction hinges which are immense help in adjusting focus. Once adjusted they stay put. My USB pendrive pics in first post and Ballpen nib here were by these.

Hope this helps.

Regards.

One simple trick can also be used. Place a drop of water on mobile camera lens. Then you can take close shots.

Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Tapatalk

 

[sandeep.km.singh]

Incoming... [emoji38]

here are pictures and mock (rather crude) setup to take closeup pictures. I guess with proper lens (achromatic ? ) and light and control to move object/lens/mobile camera it can further be improved. You will need convex lens a good light source (Mine is rechargeable reading lamp) in addition to plenty of ambient light.

First picture (1) is of various lens I have. They have different focal length. A mix lot of convex and concave. We need convex lens. The thicker ones have shorter focal length so object-lens-camera needs to be very close. For example DVD lens (the tiny one at bottom left). The right Blue one is a marker pen plastic end to hold a lens. Basic thing is we need stable fixing of all three items to get clear pictures. I usually fix lens and move object to get it in focus then place mobile camera. The desired target area should be in center of the lens and camera. The shorter focal length lens gets more closeup detail but focus area becomes very small.

Second and third (2)(3) picture is of jig I set up. Such setups need trial and error. (My old phone in pic is for demonstration purpose only. The stylus and ballpen nib were taken by replacing it with my new phone) I also have taken pictures with hands only with 2mp non auto focus camera. LINK Modern high megapixel auto focus cameras are pain. But with 3/4 snaps you get one good picture easily. Some mobile camera have manual settings. Do try them.

Fourth Picture (4) is a of tiny lens holder made of plastic and held by rubberband. If you are taking pics with DVD/CD lens this may be helpful. The picture in above link of diyAudio was taken by such method. The stylus picture along with it is by different lens.

Fifth picture (5) is of Loupe setup. Such lens are used by diamond merchants, Clothe merchants and Printing press to see closeup of objects. This is the easiest jig. As these are foldable and with friction hinges which are immense help in adjusting focus. Once adjusted they stay put. My USB pendrive pics in first post and Ballpen nib here were by these.

Hope this helps.

Regards.

Placed a drop of water on mobile camera,s lens. Here are pictures. Useful trick to get close pictures.

Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Tapatalk

 

[Hiten]

Pardon me sandeep. Just saw your post. Very nice pics. What is the pic picture about?
Thanks for sharing and best regards.

 

[sadik]

Awesome Work Bro...

 

[Stupendous Man]

Wow Hiten good job. Now I regret throwing out my Corsair pendrive which only had it's pins damaged and they don't come cheap either.