MES 30 contact repair with R-view

[smoke83340]

I had a corroded contact on an MES 30.   The wire is copper, and the contact appears to be iron.  I could not find any brass or copper crimp connectors, so I decided to solder it.  I found a soldering iron at Wal-Mart for $5.

Here is the before pic:

image1.JPG

• smoke83340
• Jan 7, 2015

I cleaned up the contact with emery paper:

image2.JPG

• smoke83340
• Jan 7, 2015

Here are the supplies:

image1.JPG

• smoke83340
• Jan 8, 2015

I realized that it would be much easier to solder by laying the smoker down on its belly so that I had a horizontal surface for the solder to puddle on.  The heat-shrink tape is on the wire ready to slide down,   However after ten minutes with a blow-dryer it did not really shrink much so I called it good.   

image3.JPG

• smoke83340
• Jan 8, 2015

Back in action!

 

[ladygt]

How old is the unit?

 

[smoke83340]

Hi GT

the MES 30 is about three years old.  I live in a quite cold climate [23f this a.m.] so I think it gets a bit of condensation when used.    I bought it on Amazon for $187,

 

[jsdspif]

I had to do that to mine when it was about 2 weeks old. I believe at my local hardware they were called appliance terminals . They were stainless steel meant for high heat applications , like an oven . No reason why soldering them won't work . My repair was done years ago and a lot of smokes without a problem since .

 

[smoke83340]

Thanks, I did not realize the blade was stainless.  I had a bit of trouble at first getting the solder to adhere to the stainless, maybe because it was internally fluxed solder, but I was trying to keep it simple.

Happy smoking!

 

[jted]

Hi , just a helpful hint about the high heat appliance connectors since they are stainless or nickel or whatever, they are hard. To hard to crimp  unless you have a special  crimping tool. You can use a pair of vice grips      tighten them down till they are tight then close  them (they will snap)  re tightening  them each time. Then     yo u can cover them in a good quality electrical tape.(Scotch super 33 is a good one.)

 This is easier than soldering.If the salesman tries to sell you one with plastic or nylon insulation you don't have the right ones. The high heat connectors are about .50 cents each.  Ace usually has them and Home depot or Lowes does not.  jted

 

[smoke83340]

Thanks Jted - Home Depot and Lowes only have aluminum connectors with vinyl covers, and they are not wide enough to go over the spade connector.   Good thoughts, I may pick up a couple just to have if the solder does not hold.

Scotch 33 is the best.   Cheap electrical tape is worthless.

 

[daricksta]

 
Hi , just a helpful hint about the high heat appliance connectors since they are stainless or nickel or whatever, they are hard. To hard to crimp  unless you have a special  crimping tool. You can use a pair of vice grips      tighten them down till they are tight then close  them (they will snap)  re tightening  them each time. Then     yo u can cover them in a good quality electrical tape.(Scotch super 33 is a good one.)

 This is easier than soldering.If the salesman tries to sell you one with plastic or nylon insulation you don't have the right ones. The high heat connectors are about .50 cents each.  Ace usually has them and Home depot or Lowes does not.  jted

Jted, you're the guy I'm going to PM if I need to make this same repair.