Re-wiring the re-wire

The nice thing about my day job is the money.  I bought some wire at the Home Depot yesterday after work.  My sister, Alice, reassured me that it was ok.  After all, she said, people spend that much going out to eat.  So I felt better.  When I told Steven that we now have a life time supply of lamp cord, he got worried.  But he is in California on a bicycle trip and will have forgotten all about my impulse purchase by Tuesday next week when he gets home.

I did not want to wait for some 18 Gauge SPT -1 wire to come in the mail.  I wanted to re-wire the featherweight today. I was so unhappy with my job with the SPT-2 wire that I just hated it.

Today's job went much better.  It took me ten minutes to re-wire the foot pedal, less than an hour, including the soldering, to get the female half of the three pin terminal re-wired and about thirty minutes to do the plug because I kept fussing with it. Oh and the knot in the plug would not hold so I had to figure out something to keep it in place.  Most importantly, I am happy with the outcome.

This was the original

This was my first attempt.  Too much exposed wire.

This is my re-re-wire.  I got the knot wrong but at least the amount of exposed wire is about the same as in the original.

  Because I used the lighter thickness insulation, the knot in the plug pulled right through.  I found a plastic gizmo in my stash of screws and things.  I drilled hole through it, fed the wires through it into the plug and tied the knot.  It worked, though it looks a bit funky.  I also did clean off the rust from the connections in the plug.  I think I will get a new plug for this eventually but I love preserving the old stuff