Re: Fixing lines out on a Data East DMD

Google is your friend, Frank :) I posted how I fixed the one in my Star Wars a couple years ago. I used a copper window defrost repair kit from the local auto parts house. At the time everyone was using silver conductive paint pens but man those are expensive! The copper paint is absolutely conductive enough for the displays. I didn't have to expose the broken lead. Dude, it's already exposed! Believe me, the glass doesn't suddenly melt in over the top where they break off so no grinding needed. All I did was scrape with a tiny jewelers screwdriver to clean the broken leads. I could see them shiny under a mag glass. Then I pretensioned the good leads so they would have pressure against the glass at rest. Now I used a toothpick and dropped the copper paint at each joint and let dry overnight. The next day I carefully plugged it in and by golly all lines were back. At this point I needed it to be sturdy so I used drops of super glue at the joints and built it up with about 3 or 4 drops on each one. My start wars is still chugging along today just fine :)

frankgigliotti@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
I have a very nice and bright DMD with 4 lines out due to broken
traces and I figured I have nothing to lose trying to fix it. I know I
can just buy a new one, but what kind of challenge is that ;)

I spent sometime last night following www.txpinball.com/fixing_DMD_displays.html.
This is a great tutorial, but I noticed the data east DMD I have
(128x32) has the traces at the bottom of the glass, not at the middle
like in the tutorial. This makes it very difficult to get the dremel
tip down at the bottom to grind away and expose the leads. Perhaps
they have a very tiny grind tip?

Has anyone had success fixing broken traces on Data East DMDs? If it's
possible I'll try again since I have nothing to lose aside from time
and my temper :)


--
Cliffy - CARGPB2
A passion for pinball!
http://www.passionforpinball.com
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Fixing lines out on a Data East DMD
    ... Wars a couple years ago. ... I used a copper window defrost repair kit from ... the broken lead. ... I could see them shiny under a mag glass. ...
    (rec.games.pinball)
  • Re: Fixing lines out on a Data East DMD
    ... Thanks Cliffy. ... I used a copper window defrost repair kit from the local auto parts house. ... I didn't have to expose the broken lead. ... the glass doesn't suddenly melt in over the top where they break off so no grinding needed. ...
    (rec.games.pinball)
  • Re: Fixing lines out on a Data East DMD
    ... said the copper stuff is cheap, ... window defrosters are pulling at least as much current as a dmd. ... The copper paint is ... I could see them shiny under a mag glass. ...
    (rec.games.pinball)
  • Re: Fixing lines out on a Data East DMD
    ... said the copper stuff is cheap, ... The copper paint is ... I could see them shiny under a mag glass. ... I picked up the window defroster repair kit at the local Pep boys and ...
    (rec.games.pinball)
  • Re: etched pcb biquad
    ... It's not like you are doing stripline, i.e. metal traces with ... The signal hits the copper from free air. ... But a reflector would have the dielectric of the pcb in the path. ... window glass as a substrate. ...
    (alt.internet.wireless)