Trying my own sd 2000 mods

[Righteous]

Thought i would give modifing a go.So i purchased a Minelab SD 2000.
Mind you i have no experence in electronics as i am a plumber,and i still dont know how to use a multimeter !
So this is the start.Ripped the boards out of the box as you all know lots of paint,i read Woodys post on what he used to remove the paint but at the time i couldent remember.
i had some mineral turpentine let that soak for 5min then 10 min the 1Hr and then over night and still nothing paint was hard as.
next i tryed kerosene over night and still nothing.
So i went out and purchased some paint stripper after 15 min of putting it on some spots started to blister.i used i plastic scraper and a hard brush to scrap the paint off ,man was it still stubben,i even left the paint stripper on over night and it was still hard to get off i ended up breaking my plastic paint scraper only broke one wire and the yellow thing on the soilder side of the board you can see in the picture.
On the top of the board in the middle, the paint stripper took off the compents protective coating on it as you can see the copper winding.
This happened about 2/3 weeks a go as i tend to run hot the cold.

i guess i should do one mod at a time and test then move on to the next one.
All i am trying to do is increase my knowlage of components, detectors,and enjoy my new hobby.

[geshi]

Welcome!
Make sure you watch the video at:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=XCKThqg7h5E
it's for modding SD2000
keep us updated on the work progress! I will be extreemly happy to see the cleaned SD2000 board.

[Righteous]

Thanks for the link its was pretty full on .
I will give the board another clean over the weekend and post how it turns out.

[Righteous]

I dont think i left the paint stripper on over night "as i stated in earlyer post" as i would not recomend doing this, as it does eat into the component parts.In the photo you will see 3 blue components next to each other as after 20 min's of paint stripper on them, the blue coating was soft and would just scrap off.
I spent 1.5 hours removing the paint with paint stripper and some small pices of wood cut on 45 degrees and tooth picks as paint scrapers."you can see them on the right of photo"
it does look better.
Title of this thread "Trying my own sd 2000 mods"
I have none of my own mods i am mearly trying to do some my self, sorry for any confusion.

[Qiaozhi]

After all that paint stripper and scrapping away at the PCB, does it still work?

[Righteous]

I am happy to say that YES it does still work,i was wondering myself weath it would work.

[Righteous]

I had a go at doing the 4 frequency mod but the detector no longer works,it dosent signal, and is very stable,it will be going to minelab to get fixed.
i suspect the paint stripper has had an effect on 1 or many of the components.

[Stefan]

I had a go at doing the 4 frequency mod but the detector no longer works,it dosent signal, and is very stable,it will be going to minelab to get fixed.
i suspect the paint stripper has had an effect on 1 or many of the components.

Was the unit working before you tried the mod? If so it may mean that you have not completed the mod correctly and the crystals are not oscillating.

Also you have to be aware of anti static procedures when you solder to the board. Just checking.

Regards,

Stefan

[AzNuggetBob]

Hi all, New to this forum, just wondering what is the best solvent discovered so far? Ive tryed a few without much success. Im currently soaking some scrap electronic parts to check for damage before trying it on my boards. Thanks AzNuggetBob

[porkluvr]

and the winner is...

We used to use xylene to remove conformal coating from GM ignition computers. Rinse with alcohol.

There may be something more eco friendly and generally less toxic, but if GM found it, I will never know. They took the operation to Mexico, some short time after NAFTA.

Something to do with lowering costs, and avoiding oversight by EPA and OSHA. I forget, exactly.

Watch out for polystyrene caps.

[AzNuggetBob]

Hi porkluvr, would you be refering pure alcohol? Would not the water in lets say common rubbing alcohol ruin the some electronic components? So far Ive tried acetone, I was considering brake fluid but because of its oily nature it would need to be rinsed with something else. I must say that I have had my sd's repaired by Minelab in the past. And when I got them back there were portions of the board that were cleaned. It looked like they were cleaned by some sort of spray with no scratching or scrubbing at all? Im also thinking about trying some different brands of spray automotive carburator cleaners. The problem with them is some brands of them soften some plastics. Im also going to try Xylol. AzNuggetBob

[AzNuggetBob]

and Ketone in a well ventilated area of course.

[Unregistered]

Thought i would give modifing a go.So i purchased a Minelab SD 2000.
Mind you i have no experence in electronics as i am a plumber,and i still dont know how to use a multimeter !
So this is the start.Ripped the boards out of the box as you all know lots of paint,i read Woodys post on what he used to remove the paint but at the time i couldent remember.
i had some mineral turpentine let that soak for 5min then 10 min the 1Hr and then over night and still nothing paint was hard as.
next i tryed kerosene over night and still nothing.
So i went out and purchased some paint stripper after 15 min of putting it on some spots started to blister.i used i plastic scraper and a hard brush to scrap the paint off ,man was it still stubben,i even left the paint stripper on over night and it was still hard to get off i ended up breaking my plastic paint scraper only broke one wire and the yellow thing on the soilder side of the board you can see in the picture.
On the top of the board in the middle, the paint stripper took off the compents protective coating on it as you can see the copper winding.
This happened about 2/3 weeks a go as i tend to run hot the cold.

i guess i should do one mod at a time and test then move on to the next one.
All i am trying to do is increase my knowlage of components, detectors,and enjoy my new hobby.

your a brave many with little experience taking on something like this on a $2,000 plus machine... you must have a lot of $$$$$$$$ .. should practice on a lesser $$$ project maybe ????

[porkluvr]

Use the purest alcohol available. Methanol is probably most commonly used in electronics. Some manufacturers use isopropyl alcohol for flux removal - but I don't know the % purity. Some drugstores sell 90% isopropyl alcohol and I've used if for flux removal; I don't worry about the small water content. We maybe should avoid the 70% rubbing alcohol , but it's better than nothing?

You're wanting something for conformal coat...

I think Xylol and Xylene are the same. I seem to remember that polystyrene caps will be damaged, but it's been a long time, and I don't have any Xylene handy. Use good ventilation with xylene. The coating that GM used; that we removed with xylene, was Humiseal brand acrylic resin.

I don't know what coating Minelab uses, and I've been out of the manufacturing too long to have many answers, but be sure to keep some alcohol handy to remove other solvents. Some solder fluxes are water soluble. Distilled (or preferably 'de-ionized' water) removes the flux, and alcohol removes the water! Compressed air drying minimizes the chance of corrosion, but is often unavailable or under-appreciated. (It can be very noisy.)

Alcohol is probably safe to use to try and remove whatever else has been used, but it can't repair any melts!

[Righteous]

Just wanted to let you all know that i have recived my sd 2000 back from minelab it cost me Au $175.00 for the repair including postage
i am very happy with the out come
in future i shall pay someone to do my mods for me i think.
thanks everyone