Springy Wire Holders

zman50

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Does anyone no a way to repair the wire holders on a 50030 transformer. The tabs in the back of the transformer have a little spring action to provide tension to hold the wire to make a good contact. Two of these tabs have lost their springy action, and thus the wire it is supposed to hold is loose. Thanks for any help or suggestions.
 

PhilP

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It can often be lots of little strands of wire in the connector..

You may be able to tease them out, by holding the contact open, and using a pin.. - Power OFF, obviously! :nod:

Other then that, it would probably mean opening the unit up, and replacing them with new?
A pain if the unit is one of those held together by the little black plastic 'rivets'.. :(

PhilP.
 

zman50

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It can often be lots of little strands of wire in the connector..

You may be able to tease them out, by holding the contact open, and using a pin.. - Power OFF, obviously! :nod:

Other then that, it would probably mean opening the unit up, and replacing them with new?
A pain if the unit is one of those held together by the little black plastic 'rivets'.. :(

PhilP.
I will take a closer look at the problem ones. Yes I have attempted to open it up but had no success. Still hoping someone has been successful in repairing these and knows the trick to doing so. Thanks
 

zman50

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If I had to open it, i.e. the connectors were beyond redemption, I would put a double banana jack instead.

Rivets can be drilled out... carefully.

Greg
So you have drilled them out and then you were able to take the case apart? I see four plastic rivets.
 

zman50

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Well, if there is nothing in the connectors, you can try a shot of WD-40 to see if it is friction.

Personally, I hate those things.
I agree they are a pain. The cord comes out of the front so you have that showing and in the way. They cannot easily be opened, why not just use screws instead of rivets. The knob is hard to turn especially for little hands. What transformer/controller do you use? Thanks
 
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I put up a picture in your other thread, a MRC Power G, 10 amps and a nice big handle for little hands.


I'm not a good example of "low cost".... go the way outlined in the other thread, build one up yourself.

Greg
 

zman50

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Thanks Greg, sorry I did not put two and two together to realize you had responded to both my threads. As an update I was able to open up the 50030 starter controller with the bad wire holders. I had to drill out the plastic rivets. That was a time consuming process and scary not knowing what was behind them. Luckily my drillbit hit nothing. After examining the insides I found the problem to be some really small plastic tabs that hold this sprung metal piece in place were broke. The sprung metal goes behind the wire holders in a two next to two arrangement. So the two that do not get a lot of use for the accesiories were OK. What I ended up doing is using super glue to fix the broken tabs and then put another small piece of plastic to beef it up a little. The wire holders now are functional again. Just need a way to reattach the cover.
 

PhilP

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Just need a way to reattach the cover.

I would suggest self-tappers? - But once done-up, take apart, and check for any swarf from the threads cutting.. :nerd:

PhilP.