crowded pcb

How To Make A Small Tool That Is Very Useful In Replacing Small E-Caps Onto Crowded PCB.

Have you ever come across problem of inserting small electrolytic capacitor on crowded PCB? It is very tough to insert the e-cap on small space even though with the use of long nose plier especially if you are repairing compact power supplies or boards that have lots of components on it. Of course you can remove the surrounding components in order to put in the small e-cap but removing and fxing back the surrounding components will take up your time. What if there is a better way to do it? In this month repair article John Timbs from Australia would like to share his method on how to solve this kind of problem.

Item marked A is the finished item. You need one for every size cap you are fitting. I only use on small caps.

Figure 1

Figure 2 shows the cap slipped inside the tool

Figure 2

In figure 3 after shrinking a small length of heat shrink over the end of your cotton bud or small screwdriver. Slip the cap into the open end of the heat shrink and with a soldering iron slowly shrink the heat shrink down on to the cap but not tight. This then allows you to re-use the tool time and time again.

Figure 3

Figure 4 shows a cap in the tool ready to mount through power supply board.

Figure 4

Figure 5. Passing the tool with a cap down behind the heat sink to mount the cap through the power supply board.

Figure 5

The tool holds the replacement cap firm enough so you can pass it down past all the thing usually in your way {coils, heat sink’s, transformer and so on}. This is a small tool but yet it is very effective. Try it out and you will amazed how it can be easily done.

This article was written and contributed by Mr John Timbs from Computer Parts Recycling New South Wales Australia.

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