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MG MG Y Type - Steering column sliprings for YT

Thatīs a coincidence!
I also was about to ask a question about the slip ring contacts -- Y-typers are likeminded ;-)

Has somebody ever tried to refurbish, resp. to replace the steering wheelīs slip ring spring contacts?
Please see the photos from a YT column attached. I wonder which material has to be used, is a brass sheet springy enough, or has it to be spring steel?
From which material the points should be? What is strong enough to last for another 70 years?

regards Walter




Walter Prechsl

Greetings to you Walter from Down Under.

I have repaired a few fingers in the past that had worn down to mere stubs, the brass fingers down to 10mm long.

I went to the model builders hobby shop and bought a packet of brass strips the width of the fingers. For the contact "points" I used small brass round head screws, snipped off the thread leaving a short stem.

I cut the brass strips to length, drilled a hole to locate the brass heads, solder in place.

I then curved the new fingers (allowing a little "springing") and slipped them over the remains of the original fingers and soldered the overlap.

Apply a little dab of "Electrical Contact Grease" to each of the contact points on re-assembly. As the contacts are brass, they will be softer than the original "points" material, so worth an inspection after a couple of years depending on usage/mileage of your car.

You could replace the entire original finger if you are game to remove/replace the rivets.

I hope this is of some help to you.

Safety Fast

Tony Slattery
The Classic Workshop
Black Mountain QLD
Australia
A L SLATTERY

Hello Walter and Tony,
I followed Tony's method, even down to buying the brass from a hobby modeller on-line supplier. The contacts I used where the cutoff heads from brass rivets I had here
However, I have used a relay (hidden behind the horn) rather than trying to carry the horn current which I think is substantial. Unless you use a sedan's indicator switch on the steering wheel, those other contacts can be paralleled with the horn so reducing the current. (I don't have such a switch and will be using under-dash push-buttons for my indicators.)
I initially tried to silver solder the contacts, but the temperature annealed the brass, so I had to start again with just soft solder.
good luck
regards KGM
K G Mills

Walter, I'm not particularly proud of the workmanship, but this gives you an idea of what I did - along the Slattery lines, drilling out rivets on the unviable brass strips(in my case only the straight pieces of brass), replacing with modeller's brass (Tony had given me a strip when he visited earlier this year). I scrounged contact points from around the shed and soldered them on. The wires are of course the wrong colour, I've fixed that now. On test today, everything is good. One thing - I overtightened one of the brass screws on the outer casing, it sheared off and I had to drill out and replace. Be careful!
Good luck.
John.


J P Hall

Thanks very much for your great hints!

I will report, when I can show a "new" slip ring assembly.

Best regards
Walter
Walter Prechsl

John Hall,
You might like to "radius grind" the contact point pads. Those sharp edges could dig into the outer rings and your brass fingers could be torn off in the next rotation - you need a smooth sliding radius contact, not an open/close like on points.

The original contact pads were rounded buttons, not cylindrical like you have there.

BTW - I like your use of old contact points pads - now why did I not think of that ?. Cheers

Tony Slattery
The Classic Workshop
Black Mountain QLD
Australia
A L SLATTERY

Very good point young Tony - I shall attend to that asap.
Sadly today I found that my pushbutton starter switch has died while waiting 24 years to be called up. Efforts under way to find a replacement - might be the subject of a separate thread.
John.
J P Hall

This thread was discussed between 27/03/2022 and 04/04/2022

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