Roland JC-77 Cracked PCB Repair

[trimbolim]

My JC-77 functions but due to "operator error" fell on its face sometime in the last 10 years. The switch for the chorus protrudes a bit proud of the cabinet and, along with gravity, fate used the switch as a lever to crack the PCB in the corner. It was at that point that the chorus feature stopped working. I had thought that the board was just bent but after opening it up, I see that 7 of the traces no longer have continuity. Also, the 2 pots for rate and depth on the chorus are physically broken and need replacement. I'm pretty sure I know what needs doing, but I thought I'd post if anyone has better suggestions.

I plan to:
- reinforce the top side (no traces side) of the board with 2 plastic ribs glued with gorilla glue to stabilize the cracks
- find a resource online for best practice for repairing traces. I can solder competently but never broke traces before. My inspection found 7 broken traces. Photo below.
- source and install replacements for the 2 broken pots. I need to check the vendor list.
- bench test and reassemble

[g1]

You can run jumper wires to bridge the trace cracks, or scrape the green off and bridge with solder, or with solder wick, or buss wire or similar.
I would make very sure the switch is completely functional as I think that would be the toughest thing to find a replacement for.

[Enzo]

Your crack runs off the board at the bottom. Up at the top, find the end of the crack and drill a small hole there. The hole will be a strain relief and stop the crack from growing longer.. Same thing on the secondary crack branching off to the right. Stop it at its end too.

I like to solder solid wires across breaks. When I mount resistors and such to a board I save the extra wire leads I trim off for such purpose, but you can use bare wire if you have it. I sand off the green coating from the traces to expose bare copper. I put a piece of wire across the gap and solder it along the bare trace on either side. Like the bottom left break or the left-right across the top.

In the case of the switch pin at bottom, I clean the trace going down and I suck the solder from the pin. I loop a bare wire around the pin and solder it there and then solder the rest of the wire along the trace.

In the case of the next pin up, I will clean the trace below the crack and either suck the pin and do similar to above or I might solder a short hunk of wire - insulated if need be - to the switch pin, and run it over the gap to the trace.

And so on...