LYNX Durable Ribbon Cable Fix

[KevinMos3]

I've been meaning to share this fix for quite some time.  I was waiting until I did this to another Lynx so I could take quality pictures of the process, but haven't done so yet.  The pics I've attached here were taken before & after, but not with the intent of uploading, so the quality is not good.  However, the recent thread about a member's pause button not working told me I need to go ahead and share.

 

Any of us who have worked on our Lynxes and had to pull the ribbon cable know how fragile the conductive coating is on them.  No matter how gentle you are about disconnecting that ribbon, it WILL wear off the coating.  Some of them seem to wear off in only a couple of pulls, while I've been able pull others several times before they have issues.  A common recommendation is to trim your cable, but there is NO NEED to do that.

 

Here's what I did to my Lynxes, even to the ones that had only been pulled once.  You can seen in the (before) picture on the left how the coating had almost completely worn off.  Most buttons did not work in this state.  I bought some copper foil conductive adhesive tape from Amazon.  I wish I could link to the exact one I purchased, but for some reason many of last year's orders have disappeared from my account.  If you search for "copper tape", you'll come up with quite a few results in various sizes.  I purchased a 1inch roll similar to this one.  You could go with a 1/2inch roll or even 1/4inch.  I went with 1inch for other random uses.

- First, I cleaned the contact area of the ribbon.

- Then I placed a piece of copper tape over the entire end.

- Then I used a magnifying glass and an exacto knife to carefully cut lines in the copper tape in between where the contacts should be.  (This is the part I wish I had a picture of, but I think it's still pretty self explanatory).

- Then I used the blade to carefully peel away the copper tape from in between the contacts.

- The final result is what you see in the (after) picture on the right.

 

 

This has proven to be very durable for me.  I've pulled the cables several times after doing this and they still work great.  I'd call it a permanent solution, but maybe it's more semi-permanent.  The tape could be removed if you ever wanted for some reason, or if the tape somehow got messed up you could always redo it.  Never trim again and KEEP your ribbon length.

 

[+karri]

What about the glue? Does it not isolate the copper from the conductive trace of the ribbon cable?

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I have some of this copper tape on hand, but haven't had that much luck in getting the adhesive side to actually conduct properly. Unless you are using something different? The copper conductive tape I have is only sticky on one side with the other side fully exposed already. Is yours double adhesive then?

 

[KevinMos3]

9 hours ago, karri said:

What about the glue? Does it not isolate the copper from the conductive trace of the ribbon cable?

It has to be the type with conductive adhesive.  So wherever you buy from, just make sure it clearly states that in the description like the one I linked to in my post.  That one is more expensive than what I bought.  The price may have just gone up since then or it could be a different brand, but it does state clearly on the item that the adhesive is conductive.  If I still have the wrapper I'll post the brand, but I probably threw that away.

7 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

...The copper conductive tape I have is only sticky on one side with the other side fully exposed already. Is yours double adhesive then?

The tape I bought has adhesive on only one side.

Edited July 21, 2020 by KevinMos3