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GBC-Power-Switch-Cleaning.md

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GBC Power Switch Cleaning
UPuZ-gbc-power-switch-cleaning
Fri Nov 17 2023 19:40:31 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Tue Dec 05 2023 19:55:42 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Video

https://www.youtube.com/embed/7m4rOyuLbwc

Guide

:::hint{type="info"} For this guide you will the following supplies:

  • Soldering Iron

  • Solder

  • Flux

  • Solder Wick

  • Tweezers

  • Craft Knife

  • Soft Bristled Brush :::

To begin, we need to remove all the old solder off of the pads holding the switch in place. Simply apply some flux to your solder wick, and using a big tip on your iron, wick away all the solder you can from both pads.

Once we have all the solder wicked away, there is still a small amount of solder holding the metal cover in place, we need to heat up the pad, and slide a craft knife under the metal cover.

Once your craft knife is under the metal cover, let the solder cool before starting to carefully pry up on the metal cover. You may need to use your finger to keep the other side from moving too much. Avoid sliding the knife too far under the metal as you will start to pry up on brown plastic, which can damage the traces on the motherboard.

Once you have one side of the metal cover popped up, then you can grab the metal cover with tweezers and heat up the other pad to remove the cover.

Now we can remove the metal cover and take the actual switch from its housing. To clean the tracks that the switch rode on, we will take a Q-Tip and chop one end off. We will then use the stick and dip it in alcohol before rubbing it over the tracks to clean them up.

You want the metal to be nice and shiny before moving on to the switch part. When you are satisfied with the track, then you will want to grab the small metal parts of the switch and brush them with alcohol.

Once your switch is cleaned, you can begin reassembly, simply place the switch back into the tracks and place the metal cover over top of the switch and tracks.

Our final step is to apply solder to the two pads holding the metal cover down. We want to recreate the effect Nintendo did when they created these consoles by only wrapping solder around the leg of the metal cover.

This will enable you to recreate this process in the future when you want to clean the switch again. You now have a fully cleaned power switch!