Solder Soldier

So, another one of my TIX clocks failed a few weeks back. The routine involved packaging the faulty product and shipping it back to Cube Root for repair. However, this time the return was refused – without any apparent reason.

At one time, I was interacting with the TIX inventor via email. He noted that some of my TIX clocks had been plagued with a batch of bad capacitors. Yikes! Well, instead of trashing this colorful (yet broken) creation, I decided to do something about it myself.

I’ve certainly worked with an soldering iron before, but never to replace electronic components on an otherwise-functional circuit board. I was a little nervous (and excited) when I walked into Radio Shack to locate a 1000W / 25v piece for my mission.

I turned the live stream to my “work bench” and friends watched me fumble with the array of tools and trinkets. This was the first time I tried Cold Heat for soldering – and it was inelegant, not recommended. The process was far from smooth, but largely due to my general inexperience with electronic hardware (and I should’ve used wick, too).

Still, my repair was successful! It’s not pretty, but it works. I may have to do ‘er over again, should my patchwork not hold for an extended period of time. For now, that TIX will remain a backup unit should another one burn out.

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