Note to self: Find the stainless steel surgical clamps you bought years ago from Princess Auto. I bought them when working on my 19-Sets because they are brilliant for fishing loose bits like nuts and washers out of cramped chassis areas.
So I now had the AC Cord free to feed back down into the chassis area. I checked the Parts Listing for the ZE-11 and the factory cord is 8 feet in length. I needed to move just over 5 inches inside to get rid of all signs of rodent flossing and end up with actually more cord to work with when resoldering the two connections.
I was able to get the cord laid out and the clamp back in position easily enough and the clamp ended up on the screw post with just enough screw exposed that the lock washer would stay put on it. But how to get the hex nut back down squarely on the screw to feed it onto the screw? No finger room at all. I knew I had done this sort of thing before in working on my 19-Sets. A cup of tea later and it all came back to me.
Two options I had used in the past depending on how much access I had for a socket to fit.
If there is not enough space for a socket to safely start the hex nut home, without risk of an angled approach cross threading the nut, I used to use a pencil, piece of dowel, or similar item. Take the flat end and attached a tiny square of double sided tape. Then press the hex nut squarely on the end. Line it up square with the screw and slowly start turning. You can tell right away if the nut is threading its way home and the nut will simply twist free of the tape when the time comes. You can then safely fit the socket to the nut to finish the tightening process.
Alternatively, if you have the space to use a socket head. Pack a bit of tissue paper or paper towel into the opening of the socket head you need to use. Follow that with a small ball of plasticine, plumbers putty or that grey window putty used to seal window seams in the Winter. Then press the hex nut onto the putty. It will stay put while you turn the socket around to install the hex nut. Any putty that sticks to the nut when you are done is easily wiped away, and you can just poke a nail into the back side of the socket to push the paper plug back out. The paper cleans the putty out of the socket and away you go.
Turns out all this was the really easy bit. As I was starting to unsolder the AC Cord from the AC Selector Switch terminal, my 40+ year old soldering iron died. As it’s final farewell, it revealed just how the connections were made to this terminal and it was not what I had hoped for at all.
This will continue once I have sorted out a brand new, variable temperature soldering station and a fresh supply of desoldering braid.
David
|