Soldering braided brush wires

[darcyh]

Hi Everyone:

Installed new brushes in an electric lawnmower. Original brushes had the braided wire crimped to the stranded wire that fed the motor. The crimped combination wires were 'clamped' or held in place by the end or cap of the motor and brush cover.

I soldered the wires as opposed to crimping them. The solder connection was robust, and the end cap continues to clamp the wires.

Will this stand up okay, or should I go back and mechanically crimp the wires?

Its a Craftsman / Black & Decker mower.

Thanks

Dave

 

[kiatech]

Re: Soldering braded brush wires

Should have crimped and soldered, it may hold for a week or forever.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Re: Soldering braded brush wires

Probably should have crimped them before (or instead of) soldering.

 

[pepi]

Re: Soldering braded brush wires

I imagine you have taken out some of the flexibility of the assembly and it will fail/reduce the life of the part. Think about it.

 

[aandpdan]

Re: Soldering braded brush wires

I'm betting the solder joints will fail from the heat/vibration.

 

[rshadd]

Re: Soldering braded brush wires

Crimping is more resilient to fatigue failure.

 

[darcyh]

Can't ignore such good advice. I'll crimp them.

Thanks for the help

Dave

 

[The Cobbler]

I was searching for some brushes that I couldn't replace & finally made my own by filing larger to fit... I searched extensively on the net & I do recall there was a reason for crimp & not soldered. just can't remember the reason

 

[G_P]

Braided brush leads tend to wick up the solder. They need to remain flexible and soldering makes them act like solid wire. Thats why they are crimped.

 

[The Cobbler]

I realize this an old thread. I have a cheap oscillating tool that quit. turned out to be the brush wire broke off the tab . nothing in my stash that was close enough to make work, so I drilled a small hole in the tab, compressed the spring & tied it together, soldered the wire to the tab with just a dab , re assembled everything & back to working again .

 

[Bert_]

I imagine if you use a big iron and do it quickly you can minimize the solder flowing up the wire. Not as good as crimping it but sometimes you work with what you got.