PCB warping - How to prevent it, and what to do when it does occur.

[rewrite]

So I got in an Irem M92 board today (Undercover Cops), and it's pretty impressively warped. It's a lot thinner of a PCB than most of my games. It runs fine, but I'd like to know what I can do to prevent it from warping further, and what I can do to prevent other flimsy PCB's from finding the same fate.

 

[Darksoft]

post some pics please.

 

[rewrite]

The big board is twisted, and the little board is all sunken in.

http://imgur.com/PmEewvf

http://imgur.com/TqJkuex

 

[Darksoft]

That looks bad.I got a couple of 2 stories PCBS that ended bent like that, that styrofoam may do the job although is not the ideal solution. Anyone has some more tips??

 

[Niko]

Wow, I've never seen that before. My guess would be proper ventilation and air movement would help prevent it from warping any further.

 

[rewrite]

That looks bad.I got a couple of 2 stories PCBS that ended bent like that, that styrofoam may do the job although is not the ideal solution. Anyone has some more tips??

Yeah, it's pretty bad... I've seen some of the little boards a /little/ dippy before, but never seen one twisted like this main board. I don't think the styrofoam is even doing anything, honestly. The edges are curled up and away from the main PCB, I don't dare screw it down to the main PCB for fear of snapping or adding undue stress to the little board...

Wow, I've never seen that before. My guess would be proper ventilation and air movement would help prevent it from warping any further.

I'll make a point not to run it in the cab enclosed, I'll just leave the main door open on my Blast. I'd like to know how to store it safely though so it won't worsen any.

I'm honestly a little disappointed with the seller, but there's pretty much nothing to be done about it, and the game /does/ work. Just wish I'd had some sort of heads up as to the condition.

 

[Niko]

That looks bad.I got a couple of 2 stories PCBS that ended bent like that, that styrofoam may do the job although is not the ideal solution. Anyone has some more tips??

Yeah, it's pretty bad... I've seen some of the little boards a /little/ dippy before, but never seen one twisted like this main board. I don't think the styrofoam is even doing anything, honestly. The edges are curled up and away from the main PCB, I don't dare screw it down to the main PCB for fear of snapping or adding undue stress to the little board...

Wow, I've never seen that before. My guess would be proper ventilation and air movement would help prevent it from warping any further.

I'll make a point not to run it in the cab enclosed, I'll just leave the main door open on my Blast. I'd like to know how to store it safely though so it won't worsen any.
I'm honestly a little disappointed with the seller, but there's pretty much nothing to be done about it, and the game /does/ work. Just wish I'd had some sort of heads up as to the condition.

I dont think thats going to worsen any, the only way I see that happening is being stored in a hot and humid environment with no airflow

 

[l_oliveira]

Am I the only one with the impression that the spacers at the warped side are actually longer than the other two spacers?

 

[rewrite]

Am I the only one with the impression that the spacers at the warped side are actually longer than the other two spacers?

They're actually all the same length, just double-checked.

 

[l_oliveira]

Am I the only one with the impression that the spacers at the warped side are actually longer than the other two spacers?

They're actually all the same length, just double-checked.

Are the one which appears to be loose actually loose? It's supposed to be held in place by a screw. If the board gets hot and the screw is missing it will warp.

 

[Braintrash]

Common problem with multilayered board.

Two solutions :

1. Use blocks of expanded polystyrene between the layers. Seen that many times, never got a problem. Just think about the heat and try to put it where it doesn't get hot on the board.

2. Keep the board in vertical position. just like vinyls and laserdisc, they are large and keeping them horizontal is not advised. So, keep them horizontal when playing, but then, store then vertical and that won't happen.

Now, keep in mind many of these boards have been kept horizontal in machines and when they got out from arcades to our homes, they were already warped. Since you have great chances to break them trying to unwarp them, just leave them as it and store them vertically.

 

[rewrite]

Common problem with multilayered board.

Two solutions :

1. Use blocks of expanded polystyrene between the layers. Seen that many times, never got a problem. Just think about the heat and try to put it where it doesn't get hot on the board.

2. Keep the board in vertical position. just like vinyls and laserdisc, they are large and keeping them horizontal is not advised. So, keep them horizontal when playing, but then, store then vertical and that won't happen.

Now, keep in mind many of these boards have been kept horizontal in machines and when they got out from arcades to our homes, they were already warped. Since you have great chances to break them trying to unwarp them, just leave them as it and store them vertically.

That's interesting. I've never seen it before, and as I think I stated in my original post, it's WAY thinner PCB than just about anything I've ever owned so that probably makes it far easier to warp.

Outside of whatever heat the board itself creates it won't see any real heat moving forward. I keep the front of my cab open and never play more than an hour or two at a time so things never really get hot.

I do keep them vertical in the cabinet I store boards in, so it's good to hear that that's how it should be done. Thanks for the information, eases my mind a bit. After years of just missing auctions/sales threads/etc and finally finding a copy I just don't want to go through the hassle of finding it again.