[DJBlancett]

My last post complained of lack of parts availability for my Whirlpool oven. I decided to give the troubleshooting another shot and discovered (quite by accident) that the problem is isolated to the ribbon conductor between the control board and the micro computer. There is a crease in the ribbon. When I press on the crease "just so" I can get the oven to operate as expected. While this is good news, it is also a bit inconvenient to have to stand there with my fingers on the crease, pressing it to complete the circuit while waiting for the item in the oven to finish cooking. Is there any really successful technique for repairing this sort of electrical break? I've isolated the problem to two of the conductors.
Any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[denman]

Ribbon cables can be repaired but it is a delicate job
I would check the conductors with a ohm meter first just to be sure which ones are broken

Extreme care must be taken so that you do not short the conductors to each other

Method 1:
Need a low wattage pencil soldering iron
Solder in external wires from connector to connector
Bypassing the ribbon connector

Method 2:
Scrape off the plastic coating on one side of the cable to get down to the copper conductors. Small exacto knife or a scalpel works well
Remove the cable from the stove, much easier to do this on a table
Then bridge the gaps with either
A. solder/wire (need a very delicate touch because you do not want to melt the surrounding plastic)
B. or conductive epoxy. This is available at electronics stores. Could also use the stuff they use to repair rear window defrosters. Check the lines with a meter to make sure the fix worked and you did not short two conductors together, then tape over the repair heavy enough so the cable cannot bend at the fix location
might want to back it with stiff cardboard