Smallest Soldering I’ve Ever Done

While taking my phone apart to repair a broken usb port, I accidentally damaged my up volume button.  I cut right through it with the spudging tool while going down the right side of the phone.  Since it was only the vol up button, I was able to use the phone by pressing the vol down, then dragging the slider back up.  I thought I might be able to mend the ribbon cable but that proved to be too difficult as the traces on the ribbon were not accessible.  So instead I opted for de-soldering the tactile buttons and soldering them on to the existing phone.  (Replacing the whole cable requires separating the screen from the body.)

Here you can see the button that I removed from a new cable purchased from ebay for $6.

Once I had the buttons removed from the spare cable, all I had to do was get the 4 corners to stick to the pads on the phone’s cable.

And there ya go!  All fixed.  The new button is a hair stiffer than the original, but it works fine.