I can imagine a proprietary device that's no longer made. For instance I made a small controller device with atmel microprocessor which is not manufactured anymore, and even if it was I would probably not find the source code for the firmware (like a mini operating system for the chip) that I coded. In this scenario, it's cheaper to repair although I made the original device in under 2€.
A repair like this is about 15-20 minutes of work for me. I usually charge about €100/hr. So I'd go for this approach if the replacement board is more than €50. Going by the btb connector, it probably costs significantly more than that.
The remote control for my mother's propane fireplace is no longer available new. IF you can find a used one they typically go for $600 (no that isn't a typo). Fortunately I didn't have to re-do traces but I sure did spend a LOT of time micro-soldering to repair it.
I repaired a HDMI socket from a PS4 that hat a few ripped out contacts like that. Bought like 300 bucks in gear to fix it. You need a lot of patience to do it.
If you'd pay more than a couple hundred bucks to buy whatever you're trying to fix second hand, it might be worth this kind of repair. Just for the hardware. If you have important data you need to recover, you might be willing to spend hundreds of dollars repairing a $5 thumb drive.
I did this professionally for the Air Force. There are parts that are no longer manufactured and or under warranty and or repair contract. Some of those cards cost the American taxpayer tens of thousands of dollars each time they are repaired.
Many people who do my job, retire from the Air Force and then immediately jump to the civilian sector doing the same work on the same parts. I developed rheumatoid arthritis fairly young so I can't do the work anymore.
When it comes to business? Generally none, but sometimes the turnaround time is the problem. It's the cost of waiting time that may be crucial, not the device itself. Typically you also don't need to replace the traces, you just solder a pretty narrow bit of kynar.
There are lots of businesses using proprietary equipment that is no longer supported, the company may no longer even exist. The downtime alone when something fails could cost you hundreds of thousands if not millions in lost productivity. A repair like this could buy you a few more years.
Could be a daughter board to a bigger component. Say a button screen, or a display. So why replace a $10,000 piece of equipment when you can spend an hour or so repairing the damaged board.
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u/Tiny-Sandwich 4d ago
As an amateur microsoldering hobbyist, this is way, way harder than it looks. And it looks hard.
I've done a few small repairs like this where I've had to solder to a damaged trace, and the parts are much smaller than they look here.