Subject: [Spridgets] Heater fresh air pull

From: Tim Collins via Spridgets <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2015 21:58:13 -0400

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Hi folks,
I needed to put the battery charger on my Sprite the other day. Later 
when removing the charger cable (that I had attached to the battery 
terminal of the solenoid) I noticed an orange glow (glowing like the 
metal on the edge of a knife) under the hood with me. I had touched 
the pull cable for the fresh air pull - (part of the heater fan 
switch) with the charger clamp. I quickly repositioned the charger 
clamp, but the damage was done. I couldn't activate the pull. I first 
though I might have welded it to the outer cable, but the problem was 
that when the wire cooled, it warped so wouldn't fit into the outer 
sheath. I figured I could straighten it enough for it to work - I was 
wrong. The heating and cooling made the wire so brittle that it just 
broke. So I began to plan a fix.

This looked like it should be a fairly easy repair. Just replace the 
wire with a longer one. However, the end of the wire in the switch 
has a ball on the end. I checked the Spridget archive and sure enough 
Frank C had written about such a repair. His method was to MIG weld a 
ball onto the replacement wire and also involved un-soldering the 
sheath from the switch. Welding a ball onto the end of a wire sorta 
seemed like trying to weld an angel's boot to the head of a pin. 
Frank's success rate was 50% for the two he worked on.

I found I could remove the wire from the switch assembly thanks to an 
access hole that allowed me to push to ball out of the retaining 
hole. I just grabbed it then and pulled - short wire out! I began 
thinking of ways to put a ball on the end of the new wire. I 
considered a ball bearing, but rejected that as a being a weak butt 
joint especially if using solder. I figured I wasn't going to be able 
to drill a hole in a ball bearing either. I looked for a pull chain 
(from a light fixture or key chain) to use a ball from that chain, 
but my chains were too small. I spotted a brass braising rod that had 
a ball on the end. That looked promising. So I drilled a hole in the 
brass ball, cut it loose from rod and slipped it over the tinned 
wire. Then I soldered it all together and filed it into a rough ball 
shape. I reassembled everything and it works well now. Anyhow, that's 
how I made a fix to a Spridget part that isn't readily available 
anymore and wasn't really so bad that it needed replacing - just 
repair. Here's a pic:

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Hi folks,<br>
I needed to put the battery charger on my Sprite the other day. Later
when removing the charger cable (that I had attached to the battery
terminal of the solenoid) I noticed an orange glow (glowing like the
metal on the edge of a knife) under the hood with me. I had touched the
pull cable for the fresh air pull - (part of the heater fan switch) with
the charger clamp. I quickly repositioned the charger clamp, but the
damage was done. I couldn't activate the pull. I first though I might
have welded it to the outer cable, but the problem was that when the wire
cooled, it warped so wouldn't fit into the outer sheath. I figured I
could straighten it enough for it to work - I was wrong. The heating and
cooling made the wire so brittle that it just broke. So I began to plan a
fix.<br><br>
This looked like it should be a fairly easy repair. Just replace the wire
with a longer one. However, the end of the wire in the switch has a ball
on the end. I checked the Spridget archive and sure enough Frank C had
written about such a repair. His method was to MIG weld a ball onto the
replacement wire and also involved un-soldering the sheath from the
switch. Welding a ball onto the end of a wire sorta seemed like trying to
weld an angel's boot to the head of a pin. Frank's success rate was 50%
for the two he worked on. <br><br>
I found I could remove the wire from the switch assembly thanks to an
access hole that allowed me to push to ball out of the retaining hole. I
just grabbed it then and pulled - short wire out! I began thinking of
ways to put a ball on the end of the new wire. I considered a ball
bearing, but rejected that as a being a weak butt joint especially if
using solder. I figured I wasn't going to be able to drill a hole in a
ball bearing either. I looked for a pull chain (from a light fixture or
key chain) to use a ball from that chain, but my chains were too small. I
spotted a brass braising rod that had a ball on the end. That looked
promising. So I drilled a hole in the brass ball, cut it loose from rod
and slipped it over the tinned wire. Then I soldered it all together and
filed it into a rough ball shape. I reassembled everything and it works
well now. Anyhow, that's how I made a fix to a Spridget part that isn't
readily available anymore and wasn't really so bad that it needed
replacing - just repair. Here's a pic:<br><br>
<img src=3D"cid:.0" width=3D1600 height=3D1200 alt=3D"[]"><br><br>
</body>
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