Soldering on 360 Motherboard

[the_modder]

Hello, I am new to the forums. I used to do a lot of rapid fire controllers and now I am trying to make a 360 laptop. I got everything down to the motherboard, but am having some problems de-soldering. Some of the solder points seem as if they are coated in a protective coat, making it impossible to heat up. Is there any way to clean that off easily? Other connections on the board that aren't a duller gray, will flow really easy when I put the soldering iron up to them. I have really decent industrial iron that is supposed to cover the whole range of solder temperatures, so I dont think enough heat is the problem.

My first plan of action is to take the usb plug assembly off the motherboard and then insert wires from that spot on the motherboard to the place where it should be located. Is that possible?

Thanks for you help!
Mike

[DK]

The dull grey isn't a protective layer, it's just the solder oxidising. You'll need to use flux to remove it.

[collinE]

and its ok to relocate the USB ports that way

[the_modder]

Thanks for your responses. Im going to work again on this project tommorow and hopefully I will get further. Does anyone know what the whole watercooling system ben uses in his 360 portables? I want something small like, that I can fit in a very small case. What are all the components necessary?

[thetwoj1014]

The water cooling system he used was custom cut by his machine shop just for his application. As for finding something similar that's small enough to work, please let me know if you find anything. They simply aren't made that small.

Honestly I think you're just as well off going with straight fans. We used an Elite for our laptop, and have had no issues with overheating with six 30mm fans (small enough to sit on top of the motherboard and barely be taller than some of the caps) and two powerful 40mm wired and placed in the stock fan location.

Unless you're looking to do some unheard of level of modification to flatten out the heatsinks and shorten the DVD drive further than simply chopping off the legs, those size fans will fit perfectly.

[vskid]

Ben only used watercooling in his first 360 laptop, IIRC. Here is a link to what he did. Here is a watercooled 360 on xbox scene. It uses fairly small components, and post 10 has a parts list. Put the two together and you'll have a small watercooling solution.

[thetwoj1014]

I satnd corrected

That's some very cool stuff right there. I would definitely look into that before building another one.

[the_modder]

Well I have quite a bit of CNC capabilities, so Im sure I can make something to my needs. I am not sure on my watercooling though. I want to make sure I order all I need, so is this a good list...

one fillport -http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2194/ ... _Blue.html

one pump - http://cgi.ebay.com/Thermaltake-12v-DC- ... 5636c8e735" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is there anything smaller than this? what did ben use?

a water block for both the gpu/cpu? --- http://www.jab-tech.com/XSPC-Xbox-360-C ... -4406.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; does this cover both pieces? Ben had two at 25$ each, but I coulnt find the exact ones he used on that site he mentioned.

-then make my own radiator


- and some artic silver of course

Is that all I need?

I got a good monitor, however had an afterthought about speakers. Any ides on what are some good small but sufficient speakers for this use?

Thanks Again,
Mike

[collinE]

I got a good monitor, however had an afterthought about speakers. Any ides on what are some good small but sufficient speakers for this use?

http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=35308" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;