Removing the PS2 EE and GS chips (or all surface mount chip)

CaptainWeasel · Post by **CaptainWeasel** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 12:50 am

How would I go about removing the Emotion Engine and Graphics Synth chips from the PS2 motherboard? My PS2 suffered a drop of two feet and the DVD drive broke, so I want to do something useful with the components. =P

Post by **gannon** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 1:03 am

When I salvage parts I heat the board up on a hot plate and either smack it so they fall off, or use pliers to pull them off.

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 1:22 am

im not sure, but i think those chips are some sort of BGA or something similar. ie, a field of tiny balls underneath the chip.

in that case, the only possible way of removing them would be to heat up the entire board as gannon suggested.

i dont know what you plan to do with them that is "useful" though. some kind of art?

a ps2 dvd drive could be had on ebay for pretty cheap. or you could sell the rest of it for parts.

CaptainWeasel · Post by **CaptainWeasel** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 10:44 am

Actually timmeh, you nailed it right on the head. I was going to make some art with the chips. Although, now that I think about it, I can put a ring on the EE and make a necklace out of it...

Since I don't have a hot plate, would it be possible to go for the ghetto approach and maybe heat up a skillet on a stove?

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 12:33 pm

both of those things would probably work.

solder melts around 200C/400F

be careful if you use the stove, little pieces of resistor and capacitor will probably start falling off the board...

a heat gun like they use for removing paint would work too.

ArtemisGoldfish · Post by **ArtemisGoldfish** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 5:35 pm

For.."Salvaging" SMT components, I just use a "Power Paint Stripper" (Heat gun). You could use a toaster oven, but you'd have to use one that you don't plan to use food in again.