Little Professor Calculator | CAN I FIX IT? | This one did NOT go to plan! | eBay Repair

This Texas Instruments Little Professor Calculator was bought as faulty from eBay. It's a lovely looking bit of 1980's technology nostalgia! Will I be able to fix it?
I did not find this one easy. At all.
Hope you enjoy!
Steve
Support me on Patreon: / stezstixfix
Follow me on Facebook: / stezstixfix
The magic things I use to break stuff;
My soldering iron: amzn.to/2Isf360
My leaded solder: amzn.to/3giGtI1
My flux: amzn.to/3lTrPIh
My soldering wick: amzn.to/3groIGn
My microscope: amzn.to/2VP3msU
My blue mat: amzn.to/3mUiIZl
My tweezers: amzn.to/2VOMjYc
My multimeter: amzn.to/2LjBgnN
My oscilloscope: amzn.to/3mUiIZl
My underpants: amzn.to/3gknvjY
PS. I am as far from an expert as you can possibly get, so please bear that in mind when watching! 😊

[@datort]

Crazy to see how much you have improved in so many ways in recent years! I'm really a fan of your videos and the way you do them. Also I do like the singing. But I won't tell anybody. :)

[@Mymatevince]

Unlucky Steve, I wonder if you could make a new contact and track out of copper slug tape or something slightly thicker, and then solder that to the chip??

[@StezStixFix]

Excellent idea! I think I'll give that a go, I've got nothing to lose 😊

[@remley8877]

I remember using one of these in the 3rd grade in Orlando, Florida in about 1988!

[@skandigraun]

Neo-Steve would start rapping at around 2:30

[@supermick83]

Sorry but I started laughing when the board melted. Just like something I'd do. I fixed my wife's hair straighteners a few years ago and left the soldering iron sitting on the flex and melted it. These things happen just very entertaining to watch. 👍

[@Peter_A1466]

Now I understand there is a revisit I need to watch, but... You can use kapton tape to make it stronger. And copper tape will help as well. I make simple prototype boards with the two.

[@Kuboslawik]

Those ribbon PCBs are nightmare to work with,

[@StezStixFix]

Yeah, I completely underestimated how difficult it would be!

[@Cappsy]

A like if just for the Red Dwarf reverence

[@lubomirrolko1967]

nice try

[@StezStixFix]

Thank you. I had to have another go at it. If you get chance, please check out the revisit! 👍

[@lubomirrolko1967]

@@StezStixFix Of course, I also watched the second video. Simply a good job.

[@StezStixFix]

@@lubomirrolko1967 Thank you 😊

[@grilnam9945]

Ok I’m slowly playing catch-up and I see there’s no Dave. When I get to the follow up vid if you haven’t typed BOOBIES into it I will be seriously disappointed

[@Zaph0d]

Shave India .... ok then !

[@mick0905]

Could you solder the link wires from the legs of the chip to the legs on the LCD?

[@StezStixFix]

There are no "legs" as such on the lcd, it's just a screen with pressure fit clamp type thingy to the pcb. I'm gonna try and use copper tape to make new tracks. No idea if it'll work, but I'm gonna give it a go.

[@USAHaCkY]

It went wrong, but nice to watch. I'd try copper tape to create new pads, and i'd give it a go... Thanks for sharing your experience. Nice vid.

[@USAHaCkY]

Oh my god! There was a revisited video.... Sorry... Happy new year.

[@StezStixFix]

😬 thank you. I'm much better than this now, but yeah I did do a revisit on this. Happy New Year to you too! 😍

[@JVerschueren]

You need a product called silver conductive varnish to fix/patch those. Carefully clean it up using tetrachloroethylene (this will unstick the other tracks if you're not careful) and then paint on a new track.

[@zerocks88]

can you make a raft of kapton tape and attach all the components to that ?

[@JMcMillen]

Given the simplicity of that ribbon PCB, I doubt it would be that hard to design a proper board and have a custom PCB company make one. Then the trick would just be getting it to fit back in the case. Either cut/grind some space in the back cover or design and 3d print a new one.

[@garymucher4082]

Unless you could get a new flex board, I don't see it working out great. But I have watched you over the years, and you fix way more than not... Thumbs Up!

[@freebeeaddict-pt3on]

i had one of those a couple of centuries ago when i was little. it was amazing, i loved it. what a blast from the past, thanks steve!

[@staminaman77]

How so you keep your desk so clean, even when i wipe down my matt and desk its just a mess, leaves like a residue on my desk, doesnt come off with wipes or anything.

[@duncangarnett1976]

You did well considering what you had to work with. That was in a disgusting state, truly gross.

[@UserUser-ww2nj]

I wonder how many others were screaming "FLUX " at their screens

[@yummyklown9226]

It would've been easier just to make another pcb from PCBWay than to repair those traces.

[@Popeyes66]

Nice try Steve Use it to scare the kids.

[@StezStixFix]

😄 🤣

[@TheMightyMoxie]

thank you for this video. i found an original from 1976 at goodwill and i thought it was broken cuz it didnt do anything. Now i know its a game and it works great!. :)

[@Dorff_Meister]

I had a ribbon cable from a ZX81 keyboard that was already damaged. I tried to fix it with a wire, kind of similar to this video, guessing it would fail. The ribbon cable was completely unsuitable for soldering - even worse than I expected.

[@bristolrovers27]

I'm about to attempt to fix a broken kettle and a broken fan heater, so I'm showing them this video to encourage their co-operation.

[@KorAllRBare]

@15:35 Onward, 🐨 Flux is yo friend, a friend it seems you haven't yet met and thus unable to rely on, Pretty sure once you get your friend "Flux" for it to do its stuff, she Err-He will give you a right tight connection, BTW did yo strip ?! err-whahhh??? 🤓 WAIT! 😮 I didn't mean she should strip, 😛 what I meant is.. Did you "Sand or strip your bridging wire" from it's enamel coating? 🤔 Which also BTW will help yo friend "Flux" to clean and also help marry the two medias Err-"cop her why her? and cop her track"😋 together" like "two K9's who have been forced to breed"😳 OH! and don't forget to clean the whole damn thing with IPA Like you did B4 you were about to re-marry the divorced err-damaged PCB tracks and components together.. GOOD LUCK on your 2nd attempt with the right friends "FLUX & IPA" and Yerp it's still Fixable as far as I kin C 😉

[@KorAllRBare]

I might Add Do-N Electronics is a huge ass loin-N experience, but if you purse a via, all that loin-n will lead to one hell of a rush, when you get her err-him go-n like they never had B4..

[@StezStixFix]

Thanks again for the feedback! 😀 I naively thought I wouldn't need flux on such a simple thing, but boy was I wrong. I've used flux on all my previous soldering attempts, but for some inexplicable reason, I didn't bother here. I will be attempting a revisit. Once again, I'm learning from the comments and other peoples (far superior) experience! Thanks, again. Steve

[@KorAllRBare]

@@StezStixFix No need to apologise, we could have a life time of electronics experience and we still could have our moments..

[@Spellfork]

If it would have made a sound I'd expect it to scream out in agony :) That must have been a nightmare to try and work on, I applaud the valiant effort!

[@Lucasbird47]

Nice vid loved it

[@StezStixFix]

Thanks Bird! 😊

[@Lucasbird47]

@@StezStixFix np

[@Audit-The-Auditors-UK]

The viper tape would work fine just make sure you adjust the pressure plate to squeeze the contacts together.

[@wollibaumfaller3233]

Nobody is perfect! It will be better next time!

[@StezStixFix]

Thanks Wolli. I was a bit embarrassed and didn't want to post it at first, but I want to keep everything genuine, and hopefully show some progress in future videos! 😊

[@MirceaD28]

There is special paste dedicated for repairing these type of traces.

[@OOOHBILLY]

I have one of these. It’s actually pretty cool what it does. Mine is a bit different though. It’s thicker and doesn’t taper down.

[@chrisgravedigger]

Any chance you could put a backing on it to thicken it up?

[@davidanttila9305]

You could try and run a by pass wire from the chip to the intended connection point. Just make sure it's plastic coded so when you snap it back together it won't mess anything up.