Yes, it should be a trivial soldering job.

great, now to start looking for a old cheap/free AT motherboard or a din connector 😀

They're cheap via ebay, either listed as a DIN jack or MIDI jack. Double check the footprint, of course.

Richo wrote:

Recently I aquired a FIX VA-503+ but the DIN connector for the keyboard is broken. Can this be replaced without much trouble?

Depends on the quality of your soldering iron, but if it's got enough power then it's not a bad job. If you have a cheap low-power one you might have trouble (though it may be possible with patience, just remember to add globs of solder to the iron itself to help it make a good thermal junction with the existing solder on the board).

Funny thing is I also had a FIC VA-503 that had the keyboard port die years ago.

gdjacobs wrote:

They're cheap via ebay, either listed as a DIN jack or MIDI jack. Double check the footprint, of course.

Thanks, ordered identical looking one as there is currently on my board. ebay? aliexpress is a good friend of mine aswell for this kind of stuff (quality is usually about the same or it doesn't matter and no shipping)

kenrouholo wrote:

Richo wrote:

Recently I aquired a FIX VA-503+ but the DIN connector for the keyboard is broken. Can this be replaced without much trouble?

Depends on the quality of your soldering iron, but if it's got enough power then it's not a bad job. If you have a cheap low-power one you might have trouble (though it may be possible with patience, just remember to add globs of solder to the iron itself to help it make a good thermal junction with the existing solder on the board).

Funny thing is I also had a FIC VA-503 that had the keyboard port died years ago.

I use a electric desolder pump (yes I am to lazy for a regular one) and Aoyue solder station, although when I purchased it I only intended to use for small and lightweight soldering (caps and gameboy battery changes) so its only 35W but does the job well, guess this shouldn't be a problem either then.

Not as good as the original Hakko station, but definitely a step up from an unregulated pencil iron.

kenrouholo wrote:

Richo wrote:

Recently I aquired a FIX VA-503+ but the DIN connector for the keyboard is broken. Can this be replaced without much trouble?

Depends on the quality of your soldering iron, but if it's got enough power then it's not a bad job. If you have a cheap low-power one you might have trouble (though it may be possible with patience, just remember to add globs of solder to the iron itself to help it make a good thermal junction with the existing solder on the board).

Funny thing is I also had a FIC VA-503 that had the keyboard port die years ago.

Preheating the board with a hot air gun, or even a hairdryer, helps a lot. As long as you avoid heating electrolytic caps and plastic details, going as high as 150 deg C should be ok, but of course it's safer to keep the temperature as low as possible.

My personal opinion is that chisel tips works best for desoldering from thick multi layer laminate, where good heat transfer is crucial. A desoldering pump will be extremely helpful too.

kaputnik wrote:

kenrouholo wrote:

Richo wrote:

Recently I aquired a FIX VA-503+ but the DIN connector for the keyboard is broken. Can this be replaced without much trouble?

Depends on the quality of your soldering iron, but if it's got enough power then it's not a bad job. If you have a cheap low-power one you might have trouble (though it may be possible with patience, just remember to add globs of solder to the iron itself to help it make a good thermal junction with the existing solder on the board).

Funny thing is I also had a FIC VA-503 that had the keyboard port die years ago.

Preheating the board with a hot air gun, or even a hairdryer, helps a lot. As long as you avoid heating electrolytic caps and plastic details, going as high as 150 deg C should be ok, but of course it's safer to keep the temperature as low as possible.

My personal opinion is that chisel tips works best for desoldering from thick multi layer laminate, where good heat transfer is crucial. A desoldering pump will be extremely helpful too.

I have a electric de soldering pump so that's all I need to desoldere something. Didn't want to spent to much at the time on the equipment as I didn't intend on using it for more then caps or light work.

kaputnik wrote:

Preheating the board with a hot air gun, or even a hairdryer, helps a lot. As long as you avoid heating electrolytic caps and plastic details, going as high as 150 deg C should be ok, but of course it's safer to keep the temperature as low as possible.

My personal opinion is that chisel tips works best for desoldering from thick multi layer laminate, where good heat transfer is crucial. A desoldering pump will be extremely helpful too.

There's lots of tricks you can use including foiling the surrounding area and heat gunning the connector from underneath. I doubt it's necessary, though. With a chisel tip and some solder to improve coupling, it should work in a straightforward fashion. I usually like to have the PCB vertical so I can use the iron on the top of the board and the sucker on the back.