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Posted by Al Skierkiewicz at 2/14/2001 1:47 PM EST


Engineer on team #111, Wildstang, from Wheeling High & Rolling Meadows High and Motorola.


In Reply to: Drill Motor Connections
Posted by Alex on 2/13/2001 8:51 PM EST:



We solder all connections to motors because we were burned once with a bad crimp and once with a connector pulled off. Here is how we do it.
1. Terminals on the motors are usually very dirty and won't take solder easily. We clean with wire brush or just scrape with knife blade.
2. Strip #10 wire about 3/4" and seperate strands down the middle. This leaves you equal amounts of wire on both sides and a flat bundle in between to lay flat against terminal.
3. Strip 4" of insulation from a #22 wire or use #22 bare buss wire.
4. Wrap the #10 close to the stripped end with the #22 and solder the #10 and #22 wire. This will leave you with a "v" with the #22 wrap at the bottom.
5. Prepare a 1.5" piece of heatshrink by making a 3/4" cut down one side only and slip onto the wire with the cut facing the end of the wire.
6. Place the open part of the "v" around the motor terminal and squeeze together with pliers, wrap the end with another bare #22 wire so it is tight onto the motor terminal. Using a 50-75 watt iron, "wet" the tip with solder and apply to wire making sure to apply solder to both sides of terminal. Immediately grasp terminal with a large pair of pliers to remove latent heat.
7. Trim any excess wire, check connection and resolder if needed.
8. Slide heatshrink up to cover connection. The slit side goes towards the motor end and the slit should be long enough to allow the heatshrink to extend past the end of the wire 1/4".
9. Use a heat gun to shrink, being careful to not apply a great deal of heat aroung the slit. While still warm and pliable, grasp end of heatshrink with long nose pliers and hold closed until cool.
10. Repeat for other terminal.

We finish by forming wires at right angle and paralllel to motor body. Using a piece of teflon sheet between motor body and wire, we then tie wrap in place. This gives a firm anchor for the wire and some heat insulation between motor and wire.
Come over during competition and we will show you finished assy. or maybe we can get some pics onto web site.
Al