resistance welding

All the connections in my little toaster oven are resistance welded. Does anyone have an experience replacing one of these elements?

I thought about a momentary zap using a 6 or 12 volt battery. Any thoughts.

Buy a new toaster, they're cheap enough. Not worth the effort to replace them.

Jim

"Jim Chandler" wrote: Buy a new toaster, they're cheap enough. Not worth the effort to replace

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ He's not being cheap. He hates to throw away a perfectly good oven when there might be some way to make it last a little longer.

Twisted connections might work if there is an end to twist onto. Likewise crimp connectors. Or silver solder. Or pop-rivets. Or self-tapping screws.

Hank,

On my last toaster fix, I got lucky and the flat chrome-like ribbon connectors that were supposed to be resistance welded (failed) had enough width that I was able to bolt them together with a # 8 bolt, nut and washers.

Crimp connectors can work. I've repaired our toaster a couple times when the resistance wire (ribbon actually) failed where it was terminated under a machine screw. The ribbon was too short to make a new connection, but a ring terminal added enough length to reach the screw.

I wouldn't have bothered, but the toaster is one my mother-in-law bought at the GE company store when she was working there after WW2. Maybe the OP has a sentimental attachment to his toaster oven (or maybe he's just cheap).

Try using the ink tube out of a ball point pen if you can find one that still has a metal tube. Cut a short length, clean it out well,put the ends of the ribbon into it and crimp with a pair of pliers or vise grip.

I didn't mean to imply that he was being cheap. I probably should have said that the toasters were inexpensive enough. There does come a point where the effort involved to repair something that is inexpensive to start with is counterproductive. I'm kind of the same way but when I reach the point of diminishing returns I go get a new one.

Jim