Repairing charging port in a DNA30

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JONBEACH

Full Member
Aug 22, 2014
10
1
Woodbridge, VA
So I just got a back up dna 30 yesterday and can finally repair the broken charging port in the first one I got. I am 99% positive that it was just a poor soldering job, and should be fairly easy to repair... if I can get to it. This dna 30 is a Cana Mod, and has a glass plate covering the electrical components. I cannot seem to get this plate off without doing damage and do not want to just rip it off and pull the entire chip out. I am pretty sure that it is just hot glue that is holding it down and I am thinking about using a heat gun to get it to melt so I can pull the plate off without hurting anything. Basically I am looking for advice from anyone who has removed this plate on their own device. I also have not seen tutorials for fixing this problem, even though I have found lots and lots of people complaining about it online, so if anyone wants me to upload picks of the repair, let me know.
 

JONBEACH

Full Member
Aug 22, 2014
10
1
Woodbridge, VA
So I went with the heat gun and it worked perfectly. Just had to be really careful. Now I am faced with a small ocean of hot glue. Basically the entire bottom of the chamber is filled with glue, locking down the bottom switches and the charging port. Does anyone know of some magical hot glue removal remedy? Most of what I have found is using isopropyl alcohol, but that seems to be just for separating things that are glued together. Gona make some hot glue a bunch of wires and maybe a pcb of some sort into an old project box and see if I can slowly get the glue to dissolve using the alcohol. But once again, if you are a more experienced modder who has dealt with factory mods that are 50% hot glue please let me know if you have any advice.
 

The Torch

Ultra Member
ECF Veteran
Nov 12, 2012
1,091
1,634
Montreal
I'm interested to see the possible solutions.

I have rarely had to deal with hot glue on electronics myself. The few times I had to, I just used a small screw driver or exacto knife to get rid of the bulk of it. Melting hot glue can create a film on electronic boards and that makes soldering nearly impossible, plus plastics are great at rendering soldering iron tips almost completely useless, depending on quality. If you really need good soldering on your board, the best way to go is many drops of liquid flux. That might also help dissolve the hot glue. Flux cleaner could also help, but I have never gone there, so these are just ideas. A light buffing of the soldering pads might work better, but beware of surface mount pads as they lift even easier than true hold pads.

Another solution, if the problem is on the USB board, is to replace the USB board entirely as that board goes for about 12$. Just double-check they are compatible since there are a few different clones of the DNA.
 

rc3po

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Jun 22, 2014
497
220
Texas
So I just got a back up DNA 30 yesterday and can finally repair the broken charging port in the first one I got. I am 99% positive that it was just a poor soldering job, and should be fairly easy to repair... if I can get to it. This DNA 30 is a Cana Mod, and has a glass plate covering the electrical components. I cannot seem to get this plate off without doing damage and do not want to just rip it off and pull the entire chip out. I am pretty sure that it is just hot glue that is holding it down and I am thinking about using a heat gun to get it to melt so I can pull the plate off without hurting anything. Basically I am looking for advice from anyone who has removed this plate on their own device. I also have not seen tutorials for fixing this problem, even though I have found lots and lots of people complaining about it online, so if anyone wants me to upload picks of the repair, let me know.

I don't melt the glue. I just heat it up to make it softer so I can cut & pull it out easier. I've never taken a DNA30 apart so I can't help you there.:vapor:
 
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