Chipquick works great for removing SMD components, especially when stuff is tightly packed. Very little heat is needed and you can lift the part off with tweezers. It isn't cheap, but a little goes a long ways.
https://www.amazon.com/ChipQuik-SMD1-Leaded-Temperature-Removal/dp/B0019UZP7I
Quoted from krankin:So for those following along this thread.. My new node board arrived today. Installed it and managed to get past the "node initializing" screen. All this excitement and hope, only to be defeated when I noticed that some of the playfield lighting wasn't coming on.. "No worries" I thought, I probably missed a connector.. NOPE.. Everything past the ghosts caught lights is out.. So here I am thinking "Well, I guess i can still play, I mean, i won't know some things, but the game works again.. Well that was wrong too.. Seems my opto board is screwing up as well. In diagnostics it thinks all 6 balls are in the trough and one "staged" to go in the shooter lane. Under the playfiled, the led for ball 6 is constantly on.. as I roll balls thru the trough all the other lights come on/off, but 6 stays..
So 300 bucks for a node board, a weeks worth of anticipation, and more let down (and I'm confident more money for replacement boards).. Ugh.
Have you addressed the flasher short issue behind the left scoop? Maybe you had that issue and the high voltage took out multiple boards.
Quoted from TimeBandit:All may not be lost. I just got Q12 off cleanly. I did not use air, as that connector nearby would have melted. I just used a good fine point iron and worked very slowly.
Nice.
We use ceramic fiber non-woven shields in situations like that (although there may not be enough room in your case). For anyone planning on doing hot air rework that and some Kapton tape are must purchases. Here's some info on the shielding effectiveness for anyone interested.
http://circuitsassembly.com/ca/magazine/24290-rework-1410.html
Quoted from flynnibus:Have you addressed the flasher short issue behind the left scoop? Maybe you had that issue and the high voltage took out multiple boards.
Yes, I checked to make sure that fix had been applied.
So after a few weeks I finally have my Ghostbusters (Pro) up and running again, and it's been somewhat of an adventure. Replaced the Node 8 board, the trough receiver board, Node 8B, C, and D lamp boards (probably only needed to replace B, long story). At some point i'm going to blog about this experience, but for brevity, lets just say it's been an eventful 3 weeks trying to get all the parts needed to repair this machine. Worth mentioning, none of the eventful part has anything to do with Stern's response to my issues.
Honestly I can see how just replacing a board is super convenient compared to having to replace components on one. The problem, as was stated earlier in the thread, is the price. If all of these boards were ~20 bucks a piece, it's a no brainer to spend 10 minutes replacing the board(s) and having the game back up and running. At current prices, 50 to 300 dollars a board, the tradeoff for ease of repair isn't worth it.
Even a single board at 50 bucks I could justify, but as was the case with my machine, I had an event that caused multiple boards to fail.
I also want to talk about Stern support. After I received my Node 8 board (which I had to purchase from a distributor) and it did not resolve the issue, they were extremely helpful in essentially providing me with the lamp and opto boards under warranty. Keep in mind I bought my GB used and have no rights to any warranty. They went above what they were obligated to do to help me. Given the extent of failures on my system, I'm very grateful that they helped otherwise I would have had 300 bucks in a node 8 and another 300 in lamp and optos.
Quoted from krankin:So after a few weeks I finally have my Ghostbusters (Pro) up and running again, and it's been somewhat of an adventure. Replaced the Node 8 board, the trough receiver board, Node 8B, C, and D lamp boards (probably only needed to replace B, long story). At some point i'm going to blog about this experience, but for brevity, lets just say it's been an eventful 3 weeks trying to get all the parts needed to repair this machine. Worth mentioning, none of the eventful part has anything to do with Stern's response to my issues.
Honestly I can see how just replacing a board is super convenient compared to having to replace components on one. The problem, as was stated earlier in the thread, is the price. If all of these boards were ~20 bucks a piece, it's a no brainer to spend 10 minutes replacing the board(s) and having the game back up and running. At current prices, 50 to 300 dollars a board, the tradeoff for ease of repair isn't worth it.
Even a single board at 50 bucks I could justify, but as was the case with my machine, I had an event that caused multiple boards to fail.
I also want to talk about Stern support. After I received my Node 8 board (which I had to purchase from a distributor) and it did not resolve the issue, they were extremely helpful in essentially providing me with the lamp and opto boards under warranty. Keep in mind I bought my GB used and have no rights to any warranty. They went above what they were obligated to do to help me. Given the extent of failures on my system, I'm very grateful that they helped otherwise I would have had 300 bucks in a node 8 and another 300 in lamp and optos.
Node boards worry me. I just blew a couple transistors on my Metallica, For about $40 (mostly express shipping) I will soon have replacements along with a whole bunch of spares. It will take me about as long to pull the board as it will to fix it.
If Metallica had node boards it would cost me a bunch more plus I get hit with another ~20% in taxes and charges if the product and shipping cost more than $300.
I can pick up a used GoT premium for a pretty good price right now and the node boards are my single biggest concern as it could really cost me (or not!).
Transistors can be done. Hopefully a few resources will build up in this other thread..
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/spike-board-repair-resource#post-3789248
Hope it helps!
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