Has anybody attempted to fix an USB-C connector?
this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2024
45 points (100.0% liked)
Mechanical Keyboards
8848 readers
64 users here now
Are you addicted to the clicking sounds of your beautiful and impressive mechanical keyboard?
If so, this community is for you!
Here you can discuss everything about mechanical keyboards (and only mechanical keyboards).
Banner by Jay Zhang on Unsplash
founded 4 years ago
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I haven't done it myself, but I've seen videos - you'll need to de-solder the existing port (or whatever is left of it) and solder on a new one.
To add, it's often worth investing in a mini heatgun for desoldering/resoldering, typically it's near impossible to resolder the pins by hand as they are so fine.
Same with many other surface mount components
You just need a steady hand and a lot of practice. Than even 0201 is possible with a normal soldering iron.
You aren't wrong, but as someone who managed to screw up and damaged the copper traces when trying to resolder an old mini-usb back onto my old keyboard; you do really need to have a good understanding and a lot of practice with SMDs and temperature control.
I went from a less than 50% success ratio when resoldering SMD LEDs to about 95% success after I bought a £20 mini-heatgun with a narrow (5mm) nozzle
A digital solder gun with a properly sized tip and a magnifying glass with helping hands (flexible clips) helps immensely. I had to hand solder a surface mount resistor that looked about the size of the tip of a pencil. It wasn't pretty but I got it done.
I've watched videos and ordered the right type of connector. It doesn't seem so hard with flood soldering techniques.
Fortunately the break is clean and happened on the connector's legs, so the traces are unharmed. I think the hardest part will be to remove the remnants left on the traces.