Posted by Druin on 30, 2001 at 1:21 PM:
In Reply to: Tips on making stronger solder joints? posted by Matthew C. Waterman on 30, 2001 at 12:12 PM:
I don't know if there's any way to reinforce something like that but some thoughts are to make sure the exposed wire ends are clean as well as the board pads when soldering to make sure the solder actually does its job instead of just balling up and flowing around the joint, barely connecting. That just means make sure the wires aren't 10 years old and all contaminated...I don't know how much of an issue it would be on a game interface.
For protection of boards I am not sure but generally there is a conformal coating that can be applied which is used to protect boards in such applications as dirty automotive or other harsh environments, don't know if that would help or be recommended on wire connections.
Another thought is I remember seeing this sort of waxy substance in radio circuits that seemed to be there to hold the coils in place etc....I remember it easily melted when heated and could be reformed, but it did a good job of holding parts in place. I have no idea what that stuff was but I think that would be useful too.
Maybe you could make a strain relief, if maybe there's a part of the board that could be drilled, you could run the wires through there and make a knot, then solder them and when pulled from the other side they'd not rip away.