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Tonearm lead blue wire snapped. How can I replace it?

S

sabalennon

New Member
I was trying to remove a cartridge from a Panasonic SL H203 and when unplugging the wires i went too far on the blue one it snapped, is there a way to fix it? I'm okay with soldering, I have a multimeter and have like 30$ budget. The wires can be accessed from the bottom of the counterweight (see pics), I could try and solder a new wire to it and then somehow slide it inside the tonearm to the other side, what other choices do I have?
 

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tnsilver said:
It looks like you have some slack left. Lucky! Put some shrink on the broken wire, solder the two parts back together and heat the shrink over the joint. Voila!
Click to expand...
Thank you for the hopeful reply! That is going to be hard, quite hard, do you think I should strip the wires a little more or is that good enough? Also, any tips on how to solder them back together in such a cramped small space? Like, what to use for holding the wires steady? Thanks again!
 
This had happened to me many times. I don't usually have good soldering access to the leads when this happens, so I use a block of wood on the deck as a little workbench and a digital scale calibration weight to hold the leads in place while I solder them together. Just make sure to tin both ends before attempted soldering. Just a dab with the tip - and you're done. Easy peasy!

Here, not exactly an image of the act - but the same weight and block of wood:

whu7Rma.jpg
 
This will be made much more possible by doing as Tom says, get a block of wood underneath the wires as you show in your 1st picture. Then, using something to put on top of them all to hold them steady, or even just the blue wire if that is easier. Then, it would really make the job much more reliable, get some of the smallest diameter heat shrink you can find and slip it over the blue wire coming out of the tonearm or the one going to the clip (end that broke off), which ever is the longer. Apply some flux to the ends of both wires to be soldered together, tin you iron tip with a small amount of solder. Take the broken off piece and place it on top of the existing tonearm wiring and touch them with your tinned iron while they are in contact with one another and you should have a joint. Then, slide the heatshrink over the joint and carefully heat it with a lighter, I use a small candle because I can control the distance better with it and get a smoother job. When done, you should have plenty of length to re-attach the clip to the pin. Go slow, steady hand....
 
Take Tnsilvers suggestion. Don't fret with trying to strip more, so small might end up tearing wire further up. That blue is a ground, make sure to ohm it out after your repair, prior to heatshrink, from spade connector to shield of RCA (should be 0.1ohm or very close).
 
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