Replaced Single Pin on Noval Socket !

[HaroldBrooks]

Hello to all,

Been off this sight for a few weeks... Life has become complicated as you all know with the Corona Virus, finances, work, but hey, I'm riding out the storm and no super big worries for me !

Last night I broke off my first socket pin trying to unwrap a thick cement resistor wire from a vintage socket. I always feared that this would happen one day, and I'd be left with replacing the vintage socket. The time it would take to swap the socket is one thing, but I also like to just keep things as original as I can if possible.

In comes the suggestion of one tech on another site, to replace just the single socket pin. I can't believe how easy that was to do !

Because the pin broke right at the base, I just pressed out the old broken half using a small jewelers screw driver. The new pin came from one of my new sockets (sacrificial transplant), and I just pinched the dimple on the pin and it came right out. Put that new transplant right into the vintage socket, bent it over a bit so it's fairly tight, and VOILA' Works perfectly !

I'm glad I didn't just jump at replacing the entire socket, as in this case at least, it wasn't really necessary.

This maybe simple stuff to a seasoned tech, but for a hobbyist with my limited skill set, it was like a heart transplant that happened in a record 5 minutes.

Feels good when you have simple solutions to sometimes seemingly vexing repair problems.

[Chuck H]

I'm ready to bet that there are some seasoned posters here that knew this. I've never broken a socket pin off but I'm pretty handy and I might have figured it out looking at how the socket pins are assembled into the unit. But maybe not and I didn't know the procedure before now. So here's another And...

Since you're a yanker (I am too sometimes) and already wondered when this would happen it's probably a good idea to save the sacrificial socket so you can rape it for more pins as needed. Or, better yet, remove the pins from it now, stow them away and toss the socket. That way you can't confuse it for a whole socket at some point when you're taking inventory for a build or repair only to find yourself caught short later.

EDIT: It occurred to me that I actually did ruin a socket pin once. I wasn't over soldering or getting solder down to the base of the pin or anything, but somehow the hot solder wicked into the tube pin hole. I only discovered it when I tried to plug a tube in. I did replace that socket without even considering replacing the pin. So now I'll know better.

[drewl]

Good job!

Have had to do that myself on several different types of sockets.