Fixing blade wires

[fred]

Is it ok to solder a patch wire to a blade wire? I have a wire that got crushed at the guard and I'd hate to have to rewire the whole blade. There's enough left to attach a new piece of wire to and re-spaghetti the section inside the guard.

I don't know why manufacturers don't groove the back of the prong socket bracket so you could sit the wire in there out of harm's way. It looks like the guy at Prieur who did theirs spent about 45 seconds designing it.

[cleghmor]

hey fred

Go for it. Just be sure you insulate the patch from the blade. Use a bit of tip tape or whatever. Aside by side solder job should do the trick. If the patch is a bit fat ,you can always split the wire tubing a bit to allow the patch to go into the tubing.

[neevel]

So long as you can get the spaghetti tubing over the solder, it'll be fine. I use 25 gauge solder (as commonly used for SMT work) for making and fixing wires. You can also paint the joint with a bit of nail polish or model enamel for extra insulation under the tubing.

To prevent the wire from getting crimped in the future, there are a couple of things you can do:

- file a notch in the socket, as you alluded to.

- run the spagetti tubing out through the guard and socket for a few millimeters so that the wire is protected where is runs between the guard, socket, and tang. If you look at many (esp. better-quality) blades, you'll note that the wire groove gets wider and deeper just before the tang-- that's so you can fit the spagetti tubing down in there. Just leave the wire unglued for those last few mm so you can slide the tubing over it.

-Dave Neevel

[fred]

Well, seems to be working.

The worst part of the whole experience was when I originally thought the tip was sticking and dismantled it, promptly sending one of the screws into a pile carpet..grrrrrr....

[neevel]

Another trick--

Go to Radio Shack and buy the 4"x6" magnet sheets they sell-- put it under the tip when you take it apart and if you drop a screw it'll stay on the sheet.

-Dave Neevel

[Dragoneye]

Ah, Neevel, that's a brilliant idea!

Now why didn't I think of that..?


Cheers,

Dragoneye.

------------------
"Violent delights have violent ends." R&J - WS.

[edew]

Another tip, given to me from Ted Li, is lie a roll of tape flat on the table (a large tip-tape roll would be perfect; duct-tape rolls may be too thick to work right). Place the bellguard of the weapon into the hole of the tape roll. That will steady the weapon while you futz around the tip of the weapon.

[arcon]

[ 10-23-2001: Message edited by: arcon ]

[fred]

Dave N. excellent idea indeed, I wish I'd thought of it at the time. I hadn't taken one apart before and didn't realize they were so short! It was out before I knew what happened.

Since I've wandered this far off-topic, is there anything magic about tip screws in threading, etc, except for being tiny? Paying 20 cents for one of those little guys kind of annoys me, I suspect I could buy a box for $5 from an industrial supply catalog and supply our club forever.

[MikeHarm]

If you locate a supplier for them that offers them on the cheap, please let the rest of us know. I wouldn't mind getting cheaper sources of parts thats for sure. After falling for the raquetball tape touted as high priced tip tape scheme, it really wouldn't surprise me at all.

Mike