How to Work with Jumper Pads and PCB Traces

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Contributors: bboyho
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Rerouting and Green Wire Repair

Lets take a look at Nate's tutorial about Wireless Arduino Programming with Electric Imp. While modifying the serial UART connection with a hobby knife, an adjacent trace was accidentally cut!

PCB Trace Accidentally Cut

Don’t see the problem? Here's a close up of the severed connection.

Adjacent Trace Accidentally Cut on PCB

Unfortunately, Nate was going too fast and TX trace to the Imp ended up accidentally cut. After troubleshooting and probing the connection using a multimeter, he discovered the TX was not connected.

PCB Repair with Green Wire Fix

With some wire, wire strippers, and some locking tweezers, the trace was quickly repaired by connecting to the tented via. The board was recovered and started working as expected once the connection was repaired.

Remember to take extra time and care when cutting traces so as to not cut beyond or nick nearby traces!