Ouch - your poor LoopA! Good that you want to repair it!
There are two ways to fix:
a) the conventional way: remove the top two PCBs (see video tutorial), desolder all 13 matias switches from the back and remove them, then you you can unscrew the screws holding together the top two PCBs, then remove the top PCB, desolder the broken encoders (recommend to snip off their pins first) and solder in new ones.
b) the more advanced way: snip off the broken encoders at their pins - remove the old metal encoder casings. Use desoldering braid to completely clean the PCB pins where the encoders go, there should be no solder residues remaining. Then push in replacement encoders and top-solder their five pins. No need to bottom-solder everything. This works without disassembling your LoopA any further.
I’d go for b) without second thought, if you’re a beginner to soldering, i’d really recommend to obtain some training material (i.e. broken appliances with encoders or pots - and to use them to learn to desolder them first: snip off their pins, then clean up the PCBs with good desoldering braid and a vacuum pump - once you feel confident, you can easily do the same thing with your LoopA). Alternatively you could contact one of the Trusted Builders or ask someone you know who does DIY builds.
Good luck and best regards,
Peter
