[Amps] Ameritron band switch repair

[Vic K2VCO]

I bought a 100 watt Weller W100P temperature-controlled iron (not a gun) from a company 
that sells stuff to stained glass hobbyists. I have never been sorry. The thermal mass of 
the large tip makes soldering things like tank coil tubing and straps easy. It also does a 
good job on PL259's.
It is much better for almost everything than a Weller D550 200/260 watt allegedly 
'professional' gun. I don't think the guns are made with the quality that they once were 
(what is?).

On 2/3/2013 5:28 PM, Carl wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "George" <at6c at bellsouth.net>
> To: <Amps at contesting.com>
> Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2013 5:07 PM
> Subject: [Amps] Ameritron band switch repair
>
>
>> A friend bought a used AL 1500 (from about 1999) and when we opened it up to install 
>> the transformer we noticed that one of the straps from the coil to the band switch was 
>> not connected to the band switch.  The solder that was there was globed up and did not 
>> flow out properly.  I thought it would be an easy repair to just re-heat the joint and 
>> flow the solder.  Turned out that the solder would not flow out with the heat from a 
>> 100w gun.  The excess solder would not melt into the existing solder on the band switch 
>> or on the strap.  I tried adding a little more rosin core solder but still the same 
>> problem, no solder flow.  Did Ameritron use something besides 60/40 rosin core solder 
>> on the band switch?  Looks like I will have to remove all the solder down to bare metal 
>> and clean the lug on the switch in order to re-solder this connection.  The strap 
>> shouldn't be problem to clean but the lug on the band switch is very thin and I hate to 
>> work on it too much with a file.
>
> Get a real gun, at least 200W and dont Mickey Mouse around with a file.
>
>
>>
>> There is a green wire coming out of the input circuit enclosure and it looks like it 
>> was solder to a lug near the band switch but is now just hanging there.  Was this there 
>> to ground out the 10M input circuit to comply with FCC rules?
>
> Yes.
>
> Carl
> KM1H
>
>
>>
>> 73,
>> George
>> W2GS
>>
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-- 
Vic, K2VCO
Fresno CA
http://www.qsl.net/k2vco/