I repaired a broken trace on a Asus ROG motherboard using this method. Kapton tape to mask of both sides of the trace, then drew the line with silver conductive ink which came in a syringe (availble from ebay), remove tape, Done! Did this a year ago and motherboard still works perfectly. Have been running a 900mhz stable overclock my 1090t with no problems all this time.

@sjoepele

9 жыл бұрын

mark carter "this time" made me chuckle haha.

Luke, it's good to see you in more videos! Glad to see you having some videos to your own instead of just being at the end showing the Benchmarks

A great way to insulate traces is nail polish! It makes an excellent, non-conductive enamel. That's what I use and learned from professionals. I would've just soldered it, personally, but I also have years of experience and a nice iron station.

2 Guys 1 Pen

@stevet2892

6 жыл бұрын

+ScrattleGG I'm not sure but ,if anyone else wants to learn about local electronic repair shop try Saankramer Electronic Magazine System (just google it ) ? Ive heard some incredible things about it and my colleague got cool results with it.

@a.c.2659

2 жыл бұрын

Dont :d

I usually endup using thin wires for such repairs but this looks much neater, great find, and yes please post such products

well that's a lot easier than using a soldering wire.

@Sevendogtags

9 жыл бұрын

Insane CoolAid They have completely different purposes...

@frankdrebin2747

9 жыл бұрын

Sevendogtags I think he meant copper wire not soldering per se

@insanecoolaid7299

9 жыл бұрын

Sevendogtags i know but what can you do if you don't have anything else?

@imfrommanndame

9 жыл бұрын

Frank Drebin "per se"

@SoulsDown

9 жыл бұрын

Insane CoolAid I've repaired traces with a pencil - has worked everytime. The graphite in the pencil "Lead" is conductive. Just a thought for us cheapskates out there. This is probably a much safer and better alternative, though.

DIY Vids are the main reason I visit KZread. I would say YES!!! to more vids of this type. Anything tech DIY repair related. Anything from repairing damage wires in PC case to full out rebuilds

Enjoying the making, tinkering and big project videos. I appreciate the effort that goes into your content and it's nice to see something other than product reviews from time to time. The product spotlight videos are great for when you're considering buying a new piece of hardware or to check on the current state of a certain tech but after a while I tend to get burned out on mouse and monitor specs. I know it's the foundation of your business and I don't think you should deviate too far from that model. Just pointing out that videos like this one are a refreshing change of scenery and I find them to be helpful and informative. I've seen these pens and thought they were cool but I didn't know you could use them to repair traces!

#luketechtips > #linustechtips

@Joe0400

9 жыл бұрын

#luketechtips

@mcs11234

9 жыл бұрын

BLASPHEMER!

@rich1051414

9 жыл бұрын

mcs11234 Not really, Luke was linus's tech guy lol. Linus took him under his arm as a personality since. To be fair, linus was originally just a shelf stocker who had a likable personality so he was paid to make product reviews. I agree that luke has more techy tech tips :P

@willemvanderlinden2305

9 жыл бұрын

***** #lukemasterrace

@joshualitton

8 жыл бұрын

+Richard Smith linus has a degree in electrical engineering

This was more interesting than the camera and drone stuff that has been posted lately. I just love the computer stuff you guys do.

Fix rather than replace, way to go Slick!

This would be awesome for prototyping and quickly making a PCB for an electronics project!

You can use a soldering iron too. Use a sharp blade to scrape back the mask (the green stuff over the copper) then solder wire onto the exposed copper. The reason being is that quite a few people are more likely to have a soldering iron and solder in their automotive repair kit than conductive pens.

Slick, these most recent videos are kinda meh. Could you get back to computer hardware?

@PyroBlock

9 жыл бұрын

Tom Lambert people still call him slick?

@kdoe1305

9 жыл бұрын

Not such a problem to have little variety like this. It doesn't always have to be "WOW...LOOK!! This is the latest and greatest blah blah blah. It comes with blah blah blah at blah blah GHz. Wow these guys are pushing the limits of something blah blah blah nano meter technology." Just take it easy.

@mrballbreeder3749

9 жыл бұрын

Tom Lambert it is computer hardware repair vid. maybe you're to young to know the days of making your own pcb's who was the only electronic way todo .

@joeevans84

9 жыл бұрын

Tom Lambert Oh sorry, didn't know that Linus TECH tips revolved completely around PC hardware. I bet you also hated the Gear Bag vid as well. These kind of videos are actually useful, I don't know many people who will be going out of their way to spend $1000's on GPU upgrades every time they show one off, but I'll definitely be getting this now that I know it exists.

@IvanRiveraStagea

9 жыл бұрын

I love the video. This pen would've saved me from making those frustrating jumper solders to fix damaged pcbs.

This video came out a month earlier on Vessel. Fuck mang.

This was SUCH an awesome video!! I THINK this was the FIRST of its kind on any of LMG's channels! Good thinking!

you guys realise you can't cause a bridge through the solder mask haha? Only between vias or when the copper is exposed for solder joints.

@43audio89

3 жыл бұрын

thats where i'm stuck at. Have any suggestions for repair of the connection point?

@shimmywow3613

3 жыл бұрын

@@43audio89 cant you just scrape the soder mask off with a knife?

@43audio89

3 жыл бұрын

@@shimmywow3613 of course, but fixing the actual circular connectors is a pain if they are missing. Wires connecting to hair thin traces.. just leaves stuff delicate.. but im new to all this so idk really

@shimmywow3613

3 жыл бұрын

@@43audio89 i also need to repair a circular connection. Damn is it hard?

@shimmywow3613

3 жыл бұрын

I did this to a perfectly working og xbox 1.6 when i attempted to hardmod it. Sad!

This is a true story, last night i was laying in bed thinking of random things while trying to fall asleep. I thought to myself about a product that i can put into a pen-like object to write with that is conductive. Then today after work i decided to check out the channel and lo and behold....

Glad you guys are doing more prototyping / engineering type videos.

"oh the batteries were backwards" "lol" I'm glad i'm not the only one who straight up says lol sometimes

I love these types of videos, I like all the different types of videos you guys do, keeps it fresh

Congratulations on learning something new that is very useful. If you are really serious about fixing dead traces on boards I would recommend using some 30 gauge insulated wire and a real soldering iron. I did repairs professionally for years and that is the best and most durable way to repair a toasted trace. The pens can wipe away too easily to be considered a fully permanent solution. Most pads can be soldered to straight away and if they are covered my a solder mask (The green coating on a PCB) then an exacto blade can be used to lightly scrape away the mask. Either way, good for you, Never stop trying new things especially when it comes to electronics.

@artbyrobot1

5 жыл бұрын

I think you gave up on this concept too early in your career. This is far superior than the method you just described. If you're worried about the trace wiping away after it has cured, then you must of been using really cheap epoxy silver. The really good stuff is used by NASA and is very strong and can even come in flexible varieties. You should do some research on Atom Adhesives. You can also coat it with two part high temp epoxy laminate layer to prevent it from ever coming free.

Leaving the old corroded traces on the board are only going to make the problem worse. You need to dilute the acid with lemon juice or vinegar, scrape the traces down to bare copper, and solder the trace with lots of flux and a low-heat soldering iron. Then wash the whole board with alcohol.

I don't know if I'll ever fix a board, but now I know it is possible to fix my car rear window defrosts. THANK YOU!

This is insanely useful, cause most causes of basic repairs on things like phone, motherboards, etc are just PCB scratch or something. This would be cheaper than repairing or replacing your devices.

DIY stuff is awesome love it. Maybe a scrapyard wars where you have to find AND repair all the compenents to build a system

Awesome, awesome, awesome! I've never seen this product, but definitely going to see who supplies this cheap here in Australia. Wow, and even that toy kit looked super cool. Nice work lads!

I loved this video, it's awesome to see something like this that's not done by some super professional that makes it look way easier than you know it actually is. it's nice to see a product put to use by someone who's the exact type of consumer who would actually consider buying it, with all the muck ups and tries and fails that they might suffer. MORE VIDEOS LIKE THIS!!!!

Did that with a graphite mechanical pencil on a PSP battery back in the day. Worked like a charm for me.

I found this useful, certainly something I'm going to consider getting now for pcb repair, probably have some car stereos I could use this on, looks a lot easier than soldering jumper wires... would love to see more repair style vids as I'm a very diy guy, if something doesn't work I first try to fix it before replacing.

Car detailers that can paint those very thin lines by hand should consider doing tracing for custom PCB's in their spare time. :P

"You need more practice" - does 2lines, awesome!!

>Suffers from RSI >Plays Cookie clicker -..-

I had a bad trace inside my car remote/key leading to the antenna and I used one of these conductive pens and its been working for many years since

This may come in very handy for someone who's spilled fluids on a keyboard and ruined it...if you've the right kind of keyboard at any rate. A lot of the rubber dome keyboards the runs are done with transparent layers(like from oldschool overhead projectors), the run itself being more or less painted on those. I have not taken apart a mechanical keyboard myself so that may be a bit different if you have moved onto those as I have.

Testing your left mouse button using Cookie Clicker. LinusTechTips, never change.

Why i love this channel...

Cool, would like to see more videos like this. Also, SCRAPYARD WARS!!!

Excellent video, guys! I´ll have to get one of these pens to play with.

Loved the video, I would like to know if you guys would have any other unorthodox ways to do the same types of jobs with any other different materials.

I have the same mouse! It feels so good but it doesn't work anymore, this helped a lot so I'm going to ask an expert friend to try this method.

Try keeping a static free brush and a bit of isopropyl handy to clean out any debris or residue. :-)

Protip: Remove the damn protective coating from the traces before doing that. You're basically making a trace over another trace and hoping that it connected. Removing the protective green shit will help expand the already present trace and bolster it.

just for signal traces, wont work on high current traces. Iwuold clena it first with isoprop to enable the marker to work easy

So, once you re-trace the pad on whatever you desire, can you feed solder onto it?

@HunterTheWalrus

5 жыл бұрын

I'm wondering the same thing. Like if I need to replace a solder pad, can I use this instead of buying a new solder pad? I have this thing where I accidentally rip the solder pads off of the pcb.....

Very cool. I assumed a product like this existed, but I've never had a reason to use one. Maybe you guys can try to make a simple PCB using product like this just to see what you can do.

Wouldn't u still need a fiberglass pen to clean up the via's and solderpads to remove the soldermask?

But... Solder mask? Wouldn't that prevent this stuff from making electrical contact with the traces? Or did the solder mask also get eaten away by the battery chemicals? Also, a metal tool should be ESD safe if you ground yourself... Using a nylon spudger and than fumbling with your hands so close to the traces doesn't make a lot of sense from an ESD safety perspective (however, a soft spuger is nice to prevent scratches).

as far as the phone rates at the end, Republic Wireless is cheaper and now well established, i have been with them for about 3 years, my monthly bill has always been about ten dollars or less per month.great phone service not so great customer service, because you can not actually call them with issues, but put forth a ticket or ask the community.

Same things work with some pencils, I used it before on a PSP battery.

@kakashihatake313

9 жыл бұрын

really ProtoMario​? what kind?

@ProtoMario

9 жыл бұрын

kakashi Hatake I used a Graphite one way back in the day.

@HamsayT

9 жыл бұрын

ProtoMario I did the same to create a pandora battery to flash my PSP

@kakashihatake313

9 жыл бұрын

ProtoMario thanks

@FadiAlzammar

9 жыл бұрын

Graphite from a pencil is conductive, but resistive. You are going to basically add a resister in series, which may or may not affect the circuit, depending on the application.

pen plugs.... cut open after shaking and it dries non-conductive...with the CAIG version. sux. trying 2 part mg.... no instruction included. how do i open/seal weird thread end tubes?

Linustechtips is literally the buzzfeed of tech

Last year i broke my 3570k with delidding and the pcb got a bit damaged by the knife. Should k give this a try?

"Speaking of fine tuning?" Nobody said anything about fine tuning! :-) Seriously, great video. Suggestion: You may want to remove the protective coating of the PCB before applying the conductive ink. There's also graphite conductive ink, which is cheaper than silver but less conductive. Still, it's enough to fix thinks like keyboards.

Cool but I am sure I saw this on Vessel already. Still this was an awesome video and definitely worth watching if you haven't seen it yet.

just scrape a bit of the pad or track with a scalpel then solder a bit of wire to make a connection

Cookie Clicker= mouse benchmarking software.

LinusTechTips You will probably not read this but I'll ask it anyway. Could you do a blind test between 16 bit/44.1 kHz, 16 bit/48 kHz, 24 bit/96 kHz & 24 bit/192kHz audio? It would be really interesting IMO.

Came back to this video because I A: miss Luke and B: miss the old house :(

That PCB has a protective surface layer right? Maybe they don't need to be this careful? The only places the ink will make contact would be existing contacts and whatever was destroyed by the battery accident. AND if they're worried about tight traces, they could just draw on all that empty space. Meticulously covering a trace that goes super close to another trace... Not necessary, just curve away from it.

Is this a permanent solution?

@Slot1Gamer

9 жыл бұрын

Rye Cribby Tree No

@GrehgYT

9 жыл бұрын

Slot1Gamer fuck.

@Karavusk

9 жыл бұрын

Rye Cribby Tree it can work as a permanent solution... can not will!

@Stickyittoyou

9 жыл бұрын

Brandan09997 well the same with a brand new mouse as well...

@Benjicmm

9 жыл бұрын

Nope

because buying a new $4 mouse is too expensive when you have 1.5 million subscribers.

@MrR33ZA

9 жыл бұрын

You probably don't know the purpose of this video nor read what Linus commented on this video

@armoureddanger

9 жыл бұрын

***** nope. see no purpose.

@pheezus

9 жыл бұрын

Wow, you could not have missed the point by a larger margin..

@AgentSquirrelA

9 жыл бұрын

armoureddanger I think it's an environmentally friendly way to go.

@MarioDragon

9 жыл бұрын

Adam Heathcote The pen's casing is probably no better than a new mouse, and if they found some electronic recycling place then it wouldn't matter either

Recently I met the electron inks founder! On a trip up to Boston from my college.

Nifty. Will be VERY useful.

@linarachdi7544

3 жыл бұрын

Just wonderful, been searching for "what happens if phone motherboard is damaged?" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Ever heard of - Giyathan Bewildering Gratification - (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now ) ? It is an awesome one off guide for discovering how to repair your electronic items like a wizard minus the normal expense. Ive heard some interesting things about it and my m8 got amazing results with it.

I have used this method on keyboard plastic circuit strips.

I have a old gameboy that was left with the batteries in it for god knows how many years. this would probably be just the fix!

will this work on a motherboard that has a severed trace due to a scratch?

Fair enough if you don't have a soldering iron but I'd rather buy a good 25w iron with a small tip (antex xs) than use this. And you can use a soldering iron for alot more jobs and make a permanent solution

I always have some silver conductive glue with me :D so useful for many things.

Used one of those pens back in 2005 to v-mod a 7600GT :')

you could use a normal led pensil and draw a trace.how good the contact in ohm i have not messured

I used to use a #2 pencil. Works pretty well. But this seems like a more permanent fix. Neato.

First the contents of an alkaline battery is in no way acidic it is caustic soda a corrosive solution... also called lye. Unless you were running lead acid batteries which rely on cells of lead with an electrolyte solution of sulfuric acid. I have repaired smaller traces by soldering jump wires between end points.

I'm amazed this worked.

Guys which peripheral was luke referring to that taran was using as a mouse?

Problem with silver pens is solder wont stick to them. If the actual circular metal piece wires hook to is gone then what would you suggest?

yes i like the maker videos! the next person you guys hire should be a maker. you guys have the computer people down... you need some one who specializes in diy/ maker things

I need one right now how to get it from a local shop,where to look for it

More stuff like this please!

can we repair flexible pcb with it. is it bendable?

Could I use this to fix say, a laptop motherboard? I shorted it when trying to change the ram and now my laptop won't charge anymore. Upon close inspection it looks like there's only one trace on the mobo thats ruined.

@503technics

9 жыл бұрын

Amir Aiman Othman Sure you can, just don't bridge any of the traces together and you will be fine.

i really like these kind of videos. pls do more

3:43 That's what she said c:

Can someone please tell me how they get so many cool gadgets... Are they sponsored and how did they become such a respectable company

@G4M5T3R

9 жыл бұрын

TheGamingFreak Thz8 Hard work, and a lot of it.

Crazy prices on these pens , im some cases its prob cheaper to replace whatever it is !

I love you guys, Luke Linus, per Genius.

Thumbs up for lukes LOL at 4:21!

Similar pens by x x x, and x AKA the exact same pen packaged differently

Hey Linus or Luke, could one of you do a review of Logitech's G910 Orion Spark?

Luke got "Follow" this time! Yay, good job!

I got a xbox one with 7 damage pcb pads and traces. will this work for the traces?

If the soldermask was stripped off the trace I would have just made a wire-bridge with a 24awg wire and then soldered it down. This stuff has way too high resistance.

And I thought retensioning the springs on my G500 was a pain! Way to go guys, I'll keep this in mind should my trusty mouse ever need surgery again!

6:31 "More like TINGker amirite?" How ever edited, u 2 funny bro!

neat pen! must get one and try it out myself..

Y would you not link the desc with the tech quicky

Radioshack is closing so I got like more than 50 % off on one of these pens and a few other items.

you could also use those to overclock old Intel Core 2 Duo E4xxx and Pentium E2xxx

What is the amp rating for this ink?

@mw9558

8 жыл бұрын

my guess is it depends on how much you apply

@cam3oh

6 жыл бұрын

You can use a track width calculator to find out what it can typically handle. I used KiCad's track width PCB calculator and the datasheets for MGChemicals' silver conductive pen and the nickel conductive pen. Silver Pen: Resistivity: 0.0001 Ohm-meter Typical width: 0.9 mm Trace thickness: 1 mil (idealized, 1 coat) Resultant Current: 1.75615 Amps Nickel Pen: Resistivity: 0.0068 Ohm-meter Typical width: 1.0mm Trace thickness: 1.6 mil (1 coat @1.6mil) Resultant Current: 2.66516 A Note that at these maximum current handling values, you're going to have a very significant and real power power loss so you likely want multiple coats if you are handling these larger current values, larger widths, etc.

Gahhhhh how I miss the old style of videos..