It seems obvious, but dunking your old video game cartridges in orange juice isn’t a good idea. That’s the lesson that Solderking (AKA: Taylor Burley) is preaching at the moment – in case you didn’t know, Burley often asks his viewers to send in items that are no longer working, and his latest case was a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons that had, according to its owner, recently taken a dip in some sweet, sweet OJ.
The game was cleaned up to the best of the owner’s abilities and even worked for a short time, but when it reached Burley’s desk it was refusing to boot. As you can see from the video, Burley is surprised at how good the game looks when he opens the cartridge up initially – but, upon removing the components on the board, he quickly discovers that not all of the orange juice was cleaned up, and the acidic liquid had been quietly eating away at the copper traces for some time.
The solution? Burley scrapes away the corrosion and then begins to painstakingly recreate the damaged connections with solid 30 gauge wire – a job so tricky he has to use a digital microscope and a pair of tweezers. To cap it all off, Burley sprays on a special coating which should ensure that any future dips in liquid won’t ruin the cart.
Watching Burley work is strangely relaxing, and we’d highly recommend you check out the other videos on his channel – especially if you appreciate the art of handling a soldering iron with a steady hand.
[source hackaday.com]