VZ-2000 balance fader issue - can I solder a bridge between pins to circumvent the fader?

[Garth Breaks]

Hey folks,
I've been working on my first VZ -2000 and have come across a bit of a problem. The balance fader has dropped its brush (see attached photo). My initial plan was to de-solder the fader, repair it and re-solder it to the board. Unfortunately, I'm not having much luck on that front. Neither wick, nor solder sucker seems to be doing a decent job and I'm afraid I'll start lifting pads if I keep at it. I'm using a good quality iron with a well tinned tip (though it is conical). I was able to bend up the end of the fader to extract the brush and I read somewhere about someone reattaching it that way, but it doesn't seem very viable to me, there's not a lot of room to work and I can't see how I could jam the brush under the fader and affix it. This led me to wonder if I could just solder a bridge on the underside to essentially negate the fader. I'm not worried about resale value, this is just for my use and I don't have any need to tweak volume from one side to the other. Does anyone have any thoughts/experience on this front? I've attached pics of the underside where you can see my piss poor attempts at de-soldering (VR302). If anyone has any insights or could walk me through what pins to solder a jumper wire to I'd be forever grateful. I've already replaced all the belts and cleaned everything up, this is the last hurdle (I hope) before bringing this back to life.
Cheers and thanks.

 

[Superduper]

You MUST use flux. With flux, solder will wick up the braid like it’s being vacuumed up, and with much less heat. You can get the clear type but they evaporate very quickly at lower temperature, best suited for smaller finer traces. Fat traces and pads respond better with rosin based flux which gives you longer working time but is more work to clean up. Yes yes I already know you’re using flux core solder. But use the liquid ones in addition and you’ll see a day/night difference. As for can you just bypass the slider with just a single wire and the answer is no. It’s more complicated than that, will require adding resistors and cutting traces (permanent modifications to the board).

 

[Tinman]

You may be able to jumper it but I'll leave that to someone else with more experience.

I always use solder wick and sometimes have a problem getting all of the solder off.
Are you clipping the end of the wick after heating it (even if you haven't absorbed any solder)?
Sometimes I find that if I overheat the wick it loses the flux above where I'm heating which makes it harder to absorb the old solder even if I cut the dirty wick off.
If I cut a bit more off to get back into the fluxed wick, it usually works.
You can also try dipping the wick into flux to make sure there's enough in it.
If you lose a pad, you can always glue the VR down to the opposite side and use a jumper for the connection.
I'm curious if you have an adjustable wattage iron or single wattage.
Sometimes it just takes more heat.
I've had a solder sucker for years but never even tried to use it.

 

[Superduper]

BTW use high heat and shorter duration. Use low heat and solder tip contact time will be so lengthy you’ll just end up cooking the pads.

 

[Huffers]

As suggested stick with desoldering and repairing the slider, I have done a few of these on my VZs. It’s definitely doable especially as you still have the wiper. Defo use the flux, old board lead based solder it harder and needs more heat but with flux and potentially adding low heat solder will certainly make it easier.

 

[floyd]

There is a tool called a de soldering iron with vacuum pump . it melts the solder then the vacuum pump sucks up the melted material after you heat it up.

 

[Garth Breaks]

Hey folks, just wanted to chime in with an update - I finally got around to taking another run at removing the fader and would like to thank folks for suggesting flux - absolute night and day difference. All the old solder was readily absorbed by the wick and I was able to remove the fader with few issues. As of last night the VZ2000 is back up and running, working perfectly. Thanks for the advice, it's safe to say I now "fuxx with flux".

 

[Fatdog]

Hey folks, just wanted to chime in with an update - I finally got around to taking another run at removing the fader and would like to thank folks for suggesting flux - absolute night and day difference. All the old solder was readily absorbed by the wick and I was able to remove the fader with few issues. As of last night the VZ2000 is back up and running, working perfectly. Thanks for the advice, it's safe to say I now "fuxx with flux".

Hell yes! Congratulations on making the VZ happy again!