For a "3rd hand" to hold a wire steady for soldering, I use a heavy pair of pliers with a rubber band around the handle, strong enough hold the wire inside the pliers and then just place the pliers on the table with wire pointing up into the air. or whatever orientation you need.
On the eddy board issue , the sensors are inductors , the cable that goes to them needs to be a twisted pair allong its length so that it wont pick up induced current from the rest of the machine , it has a habit of becoming untwisted and when that happens it starts to pick up induced current from the rest of the machine making it almost impossable to get the sensing board adjusted propery, because the adjustment is so sensitive they recomend the pot be glued once set, so that vibration does not cause it to get moved durring game play. yes there is a board designed to auto adjust that greatly helps with this issue.. of course locating the eddy sending wiring close to the large playfield magnets makes this even more fun,, if the power supplys filter caps are weak you can get A.C ripple on the supply that drives the playfield magnets which can play havic with the eddy sensors .. so check for this ..
Glad to hear that the Milwaukee M12 soldering iron works good been thinking about getting me one but wanted to wait and hear how it was from someone who has used it
I have a small tip for anyone soldering wires together like this, where you hold it with the needle nose pliers, I find that sometimes I hold it too tight while it heats up, and you end up with squashed insulation, or the opposite , you don't hold tight enough and you drop it while it's hot and into your lap or something.. I use a wooden clothespin, ... it has just the right amount of tension with the spring.
A wire connection should never be physically supported by just the solder. By twisting and tinning before physically connecting the wires you've basically painted yourself into a corner and forced yourself to rely on just solder holding that together. Instead of wiring 3 pieces together... you can do this better with just two. Cut your wire from the connector and using wire strippers open up a gap in the insulation about 2"-2.5" back from the end of the wire. Slide the insulation down towards the loose end to help create the gap. Slide your shrink wrap down on the wire for later. Create the short lead as you have, but wrap one end around the exposed gap in the main wire to make your physical connection, and then solder the joint. Now you have a Y made from 2 wires instead of 3. Terminate your leads and position your shrinkwrap.
Allot of cool goodies! .. your plastic collection is next level!
Yabuddy I love it!
For a "3rd hand" to hold a wire steady for soldering, I use a heavy pair of pliers with a rubber band around the handle, strong enough hold the wire inside the pliers and then just place the pliers on the table with wire pointing up into the air. or whatever orientation you need.
Ah Nice I like that idea!
Nice work on the splicing. Very neat and clean. Good job Mike.
Thanks man! Takes me forever but worth it!
Hahahaha. I thought it was just me thinking bags of plastics smelled bad. “Bad cheese” that’s funny!!
Its a thing :)
I would have first twisted the two connecting wires together and then soldered them. But we're all experts here Mike!!!
You know it lol :)
On the eddy board issue , the sensors are inductors , the cable that goes to them needs to be a twisted pair allong its length so that it wont pick up induced current from the rest of the machine , it has a habit of becoming untwisted and when that happens it starts to pick up induced current from the rest of the machine making it almost impossable to get the sensing board adjusted propery, because the adjustment is so sensitive they recomend the pot be glued once set, so that vibration does not cause it to get moved durring game play. yes there is a board designed to auto adjust that greatly helps with this issue.. of course locating the eddy sending wiring close to the large playfield magnets makes this even more fun,, if the power supplys filter caps are weak you can get A.C ripple on the supply that drives the playfield magnets which can play havic with the eddy sensors .. so check for this ..
OK great thanks, so I need to twist the wires to the sensors? How many twists would you say?
Glad to hear that the Milwaukee M12 soldering iron works good been thinking about getting me one but wanted to wait and hear how it was from someone who has used it
It was a great buy especially since I got it for only $100!!!
I have a small tip for anyone soldering wires together like this, where you hold it with the needle nose pliers, I find that sometimes I hold it too tight while it heats up, and you end up with squashed insulation, or the opposite , you don't hold tight enough and you drop it while it's hot and into your lap or something.. I use a wooden clothespin, ... it has just the right amount of tension with the spring.
Good tip! I notice that as well!
Kevins dream machine is coming home! Yeahh ...with a little help from super Mike! Hehe ....
Haha yep the deal is done!
A wire connection should never be physically supported by just the solder. By twisting and tinning before physically connecting the wires you've basically painted yourself into a corner and forced yourself to rely on just solder holding that together.
Instead of wiring 3 pieces together... you can do this better with just two. Cut your wire from the connector and using wire strippers open up a gap in the insulation about 2"-2.5" back from the end of the wire. Slide the insulation down towards the loose end to help create the gap. Slide your shrink wrap down on the wire for later. Create the short lead as you have, but wrap one end around the exposed gap in the main wire to make your physical connection, and then solder the joint. Now you have a Y made from 2 wires instead of 3. Terminate your leads and position your shrinkwrap.
I'm liking the sounds of this! I will have to try that!
Don’t solder wires then crimp them. Look it up. It can weaken the wire and the crimp can’t dig in properly.
I dont crimp on any soldered wires
@@pinballshenanigans ahh! I missed that, then you are nailing it!
@@Freezier134a Haha! Nailed it!
My power was out
Power to your machine?
@@pinballshenanigans no my house
@@jamesdunn8893 Booo
@@pinballshenanigans it's a pain in the ass
Do yourself a favour, Mike and get some ‘helping hands’
I have some, I should actually use them eh!