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Sunday, October 9, 2011

Re wiring the Featherweight Wall Plug

I used AWG 18 SPT-2 black wire for this application.  I have used AWG 16 but since the other end needs to go into the  Three Pin Terminal End Female Half,  16 Gauge wire is too  thick.  

First I measured the length of new wire against the old wire.  Then I studied the wire connections  at the terminal end.   I had marked and color coded each wire as I removed it from the terminal end.  The red tape  corresponds to number three on the terminal end.   On the wire that leads to the plug it is  the  white wire.  I had arbitrarily decided, when wiring the foot pedal, to make the smooth section of new wire the "white" wire.  In the case of the plug, the smooth section of new wire will be color coded red.   It is just my way of keeping things straight.  For someone who understands electricity it may be redundant. 
Next I turned my attention to the plug itself.  I put red tape on the white wire side and yellow tape on the black wire side. 
Then I loosened the screws and freed the wire.
I pulled the plug back a bit and cut the knot off.  I wanted to replicate it when I put new wires on so I saved it.
Then I threaded the new wire through the plug, scored the insulation on the wire and separated a length of new wire I estimated would be enough.  I then stripped a length of insulation from each wire that I estimated would be enough to wrap around the screw and color coded the corresponding wires: red = smooth yellow = striated.
I did tie the knot.  I truly did.  But I failed to take a photo of it.  You will just have to trust me on this. 
After I tied the knot, I pulled the wire down through, twisted each wire into a braid and wound these  around the screws and tightened everything down.  I think this looks much neater than the original. 

I hate hate hate having nothing between the wall socket and the wires and screws  I found a foam insert from insulation for a wall socket and used it as a cover.  But that wasn't satisfactory to me so I cut out a piece of cardboard.  But I want to replace it all with something plastic and secure it with a little bit of locktite.

 For now this will at least get me power to the machine so I can find out how the motor runs.  There is one more step before that.  I have to wire the three pin terminal end female half.  That was a project and worthy of its own post.

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