MacTester57's HemiMac G4

[kiwisincebirth]

Ok. Going to try this before I spend any money.

http://m.instructables.com/id/Making-a-fine-tip-for-your-solding-iron-for-SMD-so/

Hopefully it'll work. I've got a decent mag glass.

Cheers!

The other important tool is fine tweezers (not pliers) for holding the wires. e.g.
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/EROP7SA/EROP7SA-ND/114194

Then also fine solder, something around 0.5mm, basically as fine as you can get it.

For me the hardest part was stripping the insulation off the wires, it needs a very light touch with fine wire cutters then just pull off with finger nails to avoid damaging the wire.

Good luck

 

[ersterhernd]

Hi kiwi, I managed to desolder all the connections off of the G5 video connector. This preserved the soldered stripped ends so I'm hopefully able to reattach them to the hdmi connector.

It's very small though. Yikes.

 

[MacTester57]

I think it's better, if you sharpen your tip, using a drill (or a lathe) and a file. That's what I did with my old soldering iron.

Good luck!

MacTester

 

[ersterhernd]

MacTester & Kiwi,

I did it. Took 5 hours to do. Haven't tested yet but measures zero resistance on all the soldered pins between LCD and HDMI.

I sure hope it works...


Ersterhernd

 

[kiwisincebirth]

MacTester & Kiwi,

I did it. Took 5 hours to do. Haven't tested yet but measures zero resistance on all the soldered pins between LCD and HDMI.

I sure hope it works...


Ersterhernd

crossing fingers..

Don't forget to take pictures, and while checking you may also want to test for shorts between adjacent pins

 

[MacTester57]

MacTester & Kiwi,

I did it. Took 5 hours to do. Haven't tested yet but measures zero resistance on all the soldered pins between LCD and HDMI.

I sure hope it works...


Ersterhernd

Nice! Hope it will work, good luck.

Solder once - check twice...

And of course - we want to see pics.

MacTester

 

[buurin]

I will finally get my mini-HDMI to DVI adapter tomorrow. Did my share of soldering AND pinning already. Let's see how it works.

BTW just throwing this out, does anyone know if the 15"/17" drive cage can bolt into a 20" base? I want to see if I can save $70 by reusing the 15" cage I have, when I buy the 20" base.

Yeah more pics!

 

[ersterhernd]

Nice! Hope it will work, good luck.

Solder once - check twice...

And of course - we want to see pics.

MacTester

This will be the last post about this, Mactester. I'll start my own thread soon, but for now here's the finished work. It's not pretty, I know, but I've measured all pins at about 0.2 to 0.7 Ohms resistance. My ohm meter all by itself is 0.2 so I think the soldered connections are pretty good. No shorts between pins either, I checked and double checked. Just have to test now plugged into the LCD and NUC. FINGERS ARE CROSSED.

Ersterhernd

 

[MacTester57]

Take care, that the shield doesn't touch the "naked" inner wires (3rd photo)

Fingers crossed...

Good luck

MacTester

 

[ersterhernd]

Yes Mactester, you are correct. I actually soldered the shields solid and very rigid before connecting them to the HDMI. This served to remove any and all stress of movement from the tiny signaling wires. Nothing really moves at all. Once tested working, I'm considering hot-glue to encase the entire set of wires permanently.


Cheers!