Interested in learning PCB repair

[Carl Spiby]

I'm fascinated by the videos of PCB repair on YouTube, I wish I'd learnt electronics when I was younger but ended up in IT.

What would be the best way to get into repair? I don't have a pinball machine to test boards in so would it be possible to bench test boards after repairs are complete?

What's the best way of getting some knackered (but repairable) boards to practice on?

 

[xenon325i]

I spent most of my career in component-level board repair and it's not as much as a black art as it may appear. Decent soldering takes practice though, as does removal of thru-hole components without wrecking the tracks on the PCB. You can practice these techniques on any old PCB.
The real skill is finding the faulty component in the first place but usually the "half-split" method and schematics is a good place to start.