Newbie Old Bench Grinder Rewiring Question

[Franciscus]

Maybe you folks can give me some advice. I bought a 1944 Sears Craftsman bench grinder at a garage sale for $30. After reading the many posts on GJ about replacing the two-pronged cord with a grounded three-pronged plug, I decided to look into having that done. No shop or repairman near me was interested in doing that small job. I asked the repair department at a big box store and the guy was very helpful. He could not do the job due to store policy, but he said that I absolutely should replace the two-pronged cord. We looked at the wiring and he identified the hot and neutral wires and the capacitor, and generally gave me advice on how to do it. I know virtually nothing about electricity, and I have only done simple soldering. Should someone like me with limited electricity knowledge attempt to do this? Is it completely foolish to try to do this? Thanks.

 

[TappinDatA]

It should be fairly simple. Their are a few videos on YouTube of people doing the same thing. Seeing someone else do it might help you out.

 

[The Cobbler]

yes, pretty basic wiring.the ground goes to the metal housing somewhere , keep the white on white & black on black

 

[nadogail]

Long before You Tube, Boy Scouts were earning their Electricity Merit Badge.

 

[Franciscus]

Thanks for the comments.

What type of solder would be best for this job?

 

[The Cobbler]

I wouldnt even use solder, just use wire nuts ( marrettes)

 

[Franciscus]

I will look into wire nuts (marettes), but I wonder if they would work in this case. See photo below.

 

[Franciscus]

I think I will try the wire nuts. Even though the existing soldering looks bad, the connections do work (I turned the grinder on once). If there is a problem using the wire nuts, I can always then solder. Thanks.