ME Winder II problem

Can any of you guys help me with an exasperating problem I have repairing an ME Winder II. I bought it as part of a reasonable lot on eBay ( OK get the laughs out of the way ) The Super-A that I bought with it just needed a good service, which it has had at the hands of Robin @ Harrow Technical, and I now want to get this winder working with it.

The winder has suffered badly from corrosion due to the usual, batteries left in it, to the extent that both the tiny wires connecting the fixed battery terminals to the circuit board underneath have corroded, and dropped off as soon as I looked at them.

My dilemma is that I can't get any solder to 'stick' to these terminals. No matter what I try, I either have the wrong solder (60/40 lead/tin multicore) or I'm not getting the terminals hot enough. I can't even get a reasonable mechanical joint as there is not much of the terminal to wrap wires around. It was a surprise to me that there are no holes in the tags to take the wires.

Advice from anybody who has succesfully repaired these terminal connections would be gratefully received.

Thanks in advance, Pete Smith.

Hi Pete,

I've got one of those here. Give me a minute to take the covers off and I'll see if I can come up with something.

EDIT: Have you got enough length in the wires to bring them round to the front of the connector plate, and wrap them around the battery connectors. I'm not going to take the motor apart on mine if I don't have to.. but it looks as though the terminals are stainless steel. If they're clean you should be able to solder to them. Have you tried washing the terminals in bicarbonate of soda to get rid of any acid residue? Once done, put a 'key' in them with emery paper so that the solder can get a grip.

Cheers

Liam

Liam, thanks for such a rapid response.

These terminals do seem to be stainless (or spring) steel and I think that is the problem. I have cleaned them in as much as I have scaped the solder surfaces with a knife edge but i haven't cleaned them as you have suggested. I'll try that.

I'm wondering whether the flux in my multicore solder is perhaps not correct for steel. The solder I have is for soldering electronic components.

Wire length is not an issue as I am replacing both wires.

I'll try your cleaning method first . . . more later . . . if the winder survives that long.

Thanks, Pete Smith.

Success ! ! !

My winder is functioning again.

Despite cleaning and 'keying' the original terminals as per Liam's excellent suggestion, I still could not get my solder to stick. So, using Liam's clue, I cleaned the front side (larger area) of 2 of the tiny rivets that fix the battery terminals to their fibreglass mount and the solder stuck OK. I bought the new leads through the holes around the original terminals and fixed them to these 2 tinned rivet heads. Voila, eureka, etc.

Now, does anybody have a good cure for eyestrain ?

Thanks for your help in resolving this issue.

Kind regards, Pete Smith.

Glad you got it sorted out Pete..

I haven't tried it for "eyestrain", but I find vodka is good for pretty much anything that ails ya'.
I mean if I feel a cold or flu comming on, I figure that alcohol kills germs, and if you get enough in your bloodstream...I mean really, what've ya got to lose? You were going to feel like heck, later on anyways...

Just my luck, I've got Whisky, Gin, Brandy, a bottle of that sweet sticky orange liqueur stuff, copious amounts of fine spanish wine & beer . . . but no vodka. I'm diminished to a squinting wreck, and the winter olympics are on telly tonight too.

Never mind, I got my winder working so I guess it was worth it.

Cheers, Pete.

Note to self: Add vodka to shopping list.