Another volunteer suggested that they ask for help at the Apple Store a few towns over. They weren't even aware that was an option.
4. The last person I helped had a broken USB-C dock. They pulled it out of a bag 10 minutes before the event was due to end, asking whether anyone could take a look at it. Nothing like a little time pressure ...
This dock plugged directly into the side of their Mac laptop, and the USB-C plug was soldered directly to the circuit board of the dock.
[Edit: I have found a product at least similar to what I repaired; the one I repaired had only a single USB-C plug, not the pair.]
It had taken a hard knock at some point, and might have just been badly soldered in the first place: nearly every one of the 20 leads had separated from the pads on the circuit board.
But -- astonishingly -- not one of the pads had ripped up. I grabbed my narrowest soldering tip and began setting up my gear just as the organizers were calling for everyone to start cleaning up.
One of the older volunteers remarked that it would take too long for the iron to get to temperature, we'd be out of time. I politely replied that the newer irons are faster. 15 seconds after I switched the station on, the iron beeped that it was ready and I got to work.
I donned my least flattering magnification visor, slathered on flux with a toothpick, and drag-soldered along the annoying row of incredibly small pins. Any bridges I cleaned up with solder braid.
I did not make it in ten minutes; it took me 15 to do the soldering, inspect my results, and hand it back to the owner to slide back into its plastic shell. The owner plugged it into their laptop and it immediately worked. They were beaming: another volunteer had fixed their electric scooter, and I'd fixed their USB-C dock (yes, the scooter is much more impressive).
That's the first time I've successfully soldered a USB-C connector.
And, working quickly on something that small is *exhausting*.
