Defect after cutting corners

#1

Hey,
I have cut some corners off my axoloti to make it fit a box with rounded edges and now it's broken.
It does nothing when powering it up via usb, not even the leds light up.
I did not see any circuit running through the corners so i thought it was safe to cut them off a little.
Seems like there was indeed something there at the midi connections.
Is this fixable?
I included a picture with the red lines showing where i've cut.

axocore_defect_after_cut.jpg1199x384 134 KB

Did I fry my board? Please help!
#2

The board is a four layer board - the two internal layers are used for power. They are very close together and tiny copper splices from the cutting can easily short them out. You can try to find shorts on the supply rails with a multimeter - I highly suspect that's the issue you're having there. If not - then I don't know.

If you find a short between the supply rails: You can of course try to fix it with very fine grid sandpaper (Sandpaper with grid no. 1000 or similar). You might be able to sand away the copper "bridge" that connected the layers. But even if you can remove the short, you might have damaged some components in the power supply.

Removed the MIDI board, and now my Core is not working
#3

a random thought, and I really don't know, its just a 'stupid idea'

the DIN/Power socket part of the board is 'optional', perhaps if the short is in that part of the board, if you cut it off, and power from usb, then the main board might work.
(of course if the short is the other side wont help, but its a 50/50 chance !?)

#4

Yes, it is very likely that burrs on the internal copper layers are causing a short circuit, and likely fixable the way @TheSlowGrowth suggests.

#5

Hey,
Thanks for the reply's.
I'll try the sandpaper option first this weekend.
If it works i'll seal it off with a little superglue or something to prevent future shorts.
If it doesn't work i can try the options thetechnobear suggested.
I can use that board as a test/experiment board so losing the midi isn't really that big of a problem :slight_smile:
I hope nothing is fried.
Greetings...

#6

I do not expect a short circuit on the power supply to cause irreversible damage, should be just fine after removing the short.

#7

Do not cut corners in life. It is not worth it...... :wink:

#8

haha good one Jaffa :slight_smile:
Good news ,
I did a little sanding and everything seems to be just fine.
That's the last time i'll be cutting corners off circuitboards :wink:
Thanks everyone