EBME Forums Forums Free discussion Free discussion Circuit board repairs

A problem with SMD repair is that most SMD components are glued down before soldering!

Most EBME departments are not geared up for surface mount repair work, most companies will offer a service exchange board anyway. As for the grizzled old veterens yes we all have one or two trying to do this type of repair, perhaps they should move with the times if they are able!

Circuit boards can be expensive it may be worth a couple of hours of someones time to try to repair them, but turn around time can be a problem and long back lists of repairs, like mine, best get back to work!

Would also depend on the equipment involved. You may be working on a piece of life critical equipment which, should the worst happen, may be quarantined and investigated. The first question asked would be "who did that repair and why?".

I have previously worked in industry ( shock horror!!), there I reworked Surface Mount Devices on a daily basis. It is not actually that difficult if you get a decent temperature controlled heat blower ( and NOT the ones used for heat shrink, they will kill boards for a pastime)and take a little care.

Now in the NHS I have found I am not really allowed to rework boards, the reason being if I use a substitute component from the one supplied by the manufacturer, then I am told it could be deemed " re-engineering or altering the original design ", and in such circumstances then I become the person liable for the indemnity insurance!!!

So now I do not rework SMD.

And board swapping is the norm!

Better not to fix the kit, then?


... not a "repair", then?

Yes guys (welcome to the forum, by the way) ... in our "industry", the equipment manufacturers (and their appointed servicing agents) have been extremely successful at instilling fear into the trembling heart of any tech who has the audacity to actually want to fix equipment.

It's one of the major reasons that some of us are not even interested in working for the Mighty NHS.

All that may be very well (in the minds of some, that is) in government sponsored (tax-payer funded) hospitals in "rich" countries, like the UK. But it doesn't really go down too well in other parts of the (real) world, I'm afraid.

In this case then there is no need to go to college, we can train people as 'board swappers' Change all the boards until you you find the faulty one, if it is not the board then swap the kit. Had a problem with a defib, the battery was no longer available, found another that had the same specs but physically different, couple of 'modifications' and the defib returned to the end-user and the end-user is very happy.

The other "answer" would seem to be to carry Indemnity Insurance.

Imagine the scenario:-

Geoff (humble tech) to Boss ... "Er, it looks like I've knackered that defib, then, Boss"!

Boss to Geoff ... "Are you £££ insured?"

"Errm , why, yes ... but what about the patients?"

Boss ... "Oh, that's alright, then" (silence about the patients)

PS: more from the humble tech:- swapping (expensive) boards in ultrasound kit is great fun ... you generally end up with more faulty boards than you started with! Hey, ho.

After the repair you return the kit to the end-user, you demonstrate that the kit is working the end-user then signs your service order. Now where does the responsibility lie if something goes wrong?

Regarding Ultrasound, the Siemens, GE and other contracted companies spend days doing this at their cost!

Yes. Yes. But people here are referring to the NHS. The regime there likes to have people (not only the patients, but the staff as well) in a constant state of anxiety. I've never really understood why, but I've observed it many times over. I can only conclude that it's something to do with control.

Don't forget that we're talking here about a country that has a higher number of surveillance cameras per capita than any other place in the world, and thousands of new laws written down every year.

We also have people (paid for by us) who go around checking that the lids on our garbage bins are closed, and that they are only put out on the "correct" day (around here, that's every second Monday morning). We also have an organisation with the initials "SS" (?) who snatch babies from maternity wards (see recent Press reports). Oh yes, it's such a Happy Land. And one of unbounded joy, peace and harmony!

It seems that Big Brother will only be happy when everyone has a criminal record. But, as we all know, Big Bother (and Auntie Nanny) not only knows best, but truly loves us all as well. Roll on the 6th of May.

Mr.Geoff (the last Free Man of England ... they'll never take me alive)