Well, I managed to remove the coil from the circuit board, and rewind it. Not quite as it was originally, but a pretty good attempt, and better than I'd feared it might be. That just left the soldering back in place. I'm not known for my soldering skills; I know that dry joints are bad news, but haven't the faintest idea how you might cause one* - and therefore, how to avoid causing one. Add to this, the only soldering iron in the house is one designed for leadlight work, so to say it's a tad larger (and probably hotter) than required is a bit of an understatement. No matter, it's an old circuit board, with just a few widely-spaced basic components, so the chance of damaging something else is fairly slim. Apply iron ... dab solder ... hey presto! A nice shiny blob of solder, exactly where it's meant to be. Now, the other wire, then screw the whole lot back together. Plug it in, attach to Elna ... wonderful, it works again. Great relief, cup of tea to celebrate.
Now what can I fix next?
* I looked this up after the event, and found that my meagre knowledge was enough to make sure I did all the right things. I don't see a career in it, though!
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
The fun world of sewing machines - Part II
Sunday, September 30, 2007
The fun world of sewing machines
My wife's beloved Elna SU suffered a hiccup last week, and in the course of this being investigated by an expert, it transpired that a wire was broken in the foot. The expert had not fixed this, advising that 'it could be done, but it would take a lot of time' (& therefore a lot of money) to fix it.
Not one to be beaten by such a situation, I opened up the foot to see what the problem was. Sure enough, just a wee wire broken, as it enters the casing of a sizeable coil. I shall attempt to repair it, but the trouble is, the break is obviously right in the centre of the coil, so I will have to completely unwind it to fix it. If I don't succeed, there's no loss, as it certainly doesn't work now, but I will be somewhat disappointed if I can't do what's necessary. I've done battle with our washing machine twice now (there is no service agent for domestic Zanussi machines in Oz), so a wee coil should be but a small challenge ... I hope!
