What Is Epoxy? How Do You Remove It?


After the 010 boards were hacked GI came up with the idea of putting epoxy over the sensitive areas of the VCII circuitry, supposedly to prevent or at least make the modification to the module or components more difficult, thus making people think twice before attempting to modify their descrambler.

Needless, to say this merely slowed down the modification process and was more of a pain in the butt than anything, but modifications continued.

Unfortunately, there was a few problems with the application of epoxy on the board.

  • Low Impedence Shorting of traces and IC leads
  • Excessive heating of ICs, causing components to operate in higher than normal operating conditions, shortening the devices life expectancy.
  • And finally, making the repairing of the board and it's components in this area a nightmare, if any component in the expoy area failed it would require removal of the epoxy around that component (If not done correctly, this could also result in even more damage to the board)

    All in all it was a mistake for GI to apply epoxy to the surface of the board since it did not stop piracy at all, it merely created problems for anyone needing to do repair work to the board as well as the customer, since excessive heat will breakdown electrical components, the life expectancy of the descrambler will be shortened.

    Now enough about all that here's some pictures of the epoxy applied to the VCII circuit boards as well as some modifications done with epoxy removed.

    The above three pictures show various colours of epoxy, these are present on A018 up to the A032 full sized boards

    The two pictures above show the white molding on an 032 "1/2 sized" descrambler of which epoxy is poured into and then allowed to harden

    Above, epoxy was removed and a socket installed on top of the original u30 chip on an A019 board

    Above, epoxy was removed and a socket installed. The original u9 was removed, thus no jumper present in this modification)

    Here, epoxy was removed and both u9 and u10 on an 032 board was socketed.

    None of the VCII+ nor the VCRS series of descramblers contain epoxy on the circuit board.

    Removal of Epoxy from a VCII module

    Some people figure this is easy and quick, for some yes it will be and some, well it may take a little more time.

    One thing for sure, if you are not careful you will damage your board!

    First thing is, Methylene Chloride is not recommended, since it is sloppy and not as effective as one would like.

    Second, DON'T USE A CHISEL or sharp metal tools, unless you have had experience in removing without causing damage and battery power has been removed.

    Third, Only remove what you need, if you don't need to get into an epoxied area, then don't, there is always the possibility of damage when removing epoxy from a board since traces are most commonly cut during this process, as well as shorting of IC legs causing data corruption or even loss.

    The easiest and most common way to remove epoxy from a VCII board is to use a heat gun and a pointed piece of wood or plastic.

    Simply heat around the area you wish to remove, taking care not to over heat as other components around this area or even underneath may be damaged from excessive heat, you've been warned!.

    Heat in a circular motion around the area and in spurts, such as heat for about ten seconds and then use your prying tool to dig into the epoxy, since the heat will soften it up, and begin the removal.

    If you are doing a repair and know the IC is defective, then remove enough epoxy to expose the pins and then cut the IC leg's and remove the IC, then solder a socket on top of the old pins and insert the replacement IC, it's not worth removing epoxy from both sides of the board and then desoldering the IC and then putting a socket in as this is a waste of time, unless you are perfectionist and have lots of time on your hands.

    Otherwise, have fun, now you know what people are talking about when removing epoxy.


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