The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

The New Hotness

  • Coaxial Power Plug Tip: Extraction Thereof

    Another coaxial power plug lost its tip inside a lithium ion battery pack used with the APRS + Voice circuitry on our bikes, as I could barely see at the bottom of the socket:

    LiIon Pack - output socket
    LiIon Pack – output socket

    Rather than cutting the pack apart, I buttered up the end of an intact plug with some ABS solvent glue (a hellish homebrew mixture of acetone and MEK), rammed it into the socket, and held it in place for a minute:

    LiIon Pack - undamaged plug insertion
    LiIon Pack – undamaged plug insertion

    The tip emerged on the first try:

    LiIon Pack - rescued plug tip joined
    LiIon Pack – rescued plug tip joined

    Even better, it cracked off the plug without too much effort:

    LiIon Pack - rescued plug tip separated
    LiIon Pack – rescued plug tip separated

    More solvent glue and a few hours of clamping worked fine:

    LiIon Pack - clamped plug tip
    LiIon Pack – clamped plug tip

    That cable is now back in service.