"how to" tact replacement

you'll need
phillips head screwdriver
new tact
lead free solder
soldering iron
needlenose pliers
tiny screwdriver


ok start plugging in your soldering iron to get it toasty,,remove the shell
and then proceed to removeing the curcuitboard with the broken tact,,,in my case it was the pad bank buttons. and as you can tell my whole curcuit board is broke under where the record and main volume knobs are..(still works fine though)


ok now remove the buttons from the top untill it looks like so



now you want to find what tabs are the ones you need to heat up to get that old tact out,,,in my case its the ones circled


so you just heat those tabs,one or two at a time and while your heating them,you hold the tact its self with the needle nose pliers,pulling away from the circuitboard(no need to be rough)(once heated the tact should move easily) and proceed heating until you end up with this:


and then you want to take your tiny screwdriver and ream out the wholes where the tact was(make sure to use same size screwdriver as hole,!!!!!!nothing bigger!!!!!!!this is just so the new tact will fit easily!!


now get your new tact(s)


now insert them how they fit,they will only go in 2 ways,either will work.


now, proceed to soldering the four tabs that are on the underside of the curcuitboard(there should be enough solder remaining from when removed,but if not,you only need a ((((((((((((((teeny)))))))))) little bit..you dont want to bridge it in any way,,,it should look just like this again


now flip it back over and this is what you should have:


now just re-install the curcuitboard and voila all should be fine!!!!mine was

Nice post. Im a strong believer in servicing your own gear as much as you can.

poundaproblem wrote:Nice post. Im a strong believer in servicing your own gear as much as you can.

thanx,and me too,
i bought off e-bay and the only description was "looks good works great"

3 lights out
6 tacts not working
burned screen
about 15 of the buttons were broke
top was not screwed down
front was totally off
floppy was spent
pads weren't same as pic
(and the dude had the ba11s to say "hurry leave me good feedback so i can get my money")lol

plus he said it came with a gig card that i never seen,,,most people would probably have returned,but one of my favorite things to do is take beat up stuff and make it new...

so now theres nothing wrong with it except the screen...

thats whats up man!

just made my first loop on it...its like 4 tracks,,all pink floyd samples i made,,except the kick and snare...i'll post it when i figure out how to make the intro and chorus's and shit...im super new to the mpc,,,only have had it in working order for a week tops..lol,,,i'll get the hang of it though..

dude really. almost everything about this is wrong.
1: if you want to burn the board the hold the iron on there long enough to pry the tact switch away. not to mention you run the risk of ripping the pad right off the board. ( get a de-solder braid, or sucker)
2: step two will not be necessary if you use step one. if not you run the very high risk of damaging the pads on the board. its repairable but not for the novice.
the pics are good and the walk through is well appreciated but get some more skilz before you go instructing people how to perform task's such as this. im glad this worked for you. i always like to see cats make it happen for themselves.

LunaticBastard wrote:dude really. almost everything about this is wrong.
.

i did a search on tacts before i installed mine and found one post!!!!

so looks like this one will do..

just tryin to help!!

because ive never worked with curcuit boards i will go buy a de-solder braid tommorrow so thanx,but just to let you know,i been soldering for years so i didnt think of that,i soldered 6 tacts 3 lights and a new slider and they all worked fine,,all in all my skills at what i did, are better than, my knowledge on what i did it on. so maybe i need more knowledge and thanx for giving that to me,but my skills are well achieved..

thanx for your tips and i hope to c u round cause u seem pretty knowledgable!! if thats how thats spelled..lol

TAKE NOTICE:
=========

DO NOT PULL THE OLD TACT SWITCH OUT WITH PLIERS DIRECTLY AFTER HEATING, THIS IS INCORRECT ADVICE.

You should always to use a desoldering pump otherwise you run the risk of destroying the solder connections on the circuit board.

like i said(new to the curcuitboard soldering)
so thanx for clearing that up!

its cool man. like i said the pics are a big help for anybody wanting to do this. and with a few of the extra posted tips this has become a good comunity tutorial.

by the way,i went and bought the de-soldering braid today at radio shack and it worked like a champ,,thanx for the tip!!!

Keep in mind the de-soldering Sucker Gun works much better and last longer than having to keep re-buying braid.

The pictures are good, I'd recommend editing the post and take out most of the instructions (or change them so people don't damage their own equipment)

Your Tutorial would work, if everyone had proper soldering experience, because as Lunatic (and others) quickly realized, the directions are the not only incorrect, but the riskiest way to complete a simple task.

in the "6yrs of soldering" you honestly never have properly de-soldered anything? Just heat and yank?

I had this horrendous assignment in class to de-solder an entire 386 motherboard and remove all of the components, it was timed as well. My instructor had us do this once a week! LOL

+1 on the appreciation I have for people that take the time to take photos and the time to organize a helpful post.

yep in six years ive never even heard of either one of these things,,i also did purchase a de-soldering pump but didnt even open the package,,lol...most things ive soldered have been r/c car parts,,,nothing really damageable by heat,,,but i did a little reading about curcuitboards and never realized that there is metal inside the boards that cant be damaged or it will fail,,

most of my soldering was always done on metal tabs,nothing that i could actually damage,,,i will take some pics and text out and re-word the tutorial so its more "diy" thanx!!!!

Nice pictures. To save time in getting the old tact switches off (which I would toss anyway), I usually clip the leads at the top where they connect to the body and then I can remove them one leg at a time when I desolder the thru hole.

I would also be careful about reaming out a thru hole, it is very easy to dislodge the via which will ruin the board. If you clean away enough of the solder, the legs of the tact switches should fit anyway.

What's a "curcuitboard"?