I have a thumbwheel that needs a new cradle.
I have a new cradle.
How do I remove the old thumbwheel and electronics from the broken cradle to install in new cradle?
Thank you.
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you have to separate the 2 halves of the remote front n back if you separate it by force and open the remote to fast or wide you wheel brake the led screen wiring and the remote will be junk no other parts are available to repair the remote! watch video below!! p.s. you have to squeese the remote on the sides to get it to release from the top as you will see in the video!
https://www.bing.com/videos/se...detail&FORM=VIRE
Alan
let know if you want me to repair it for you ok!
Alan
Note that that video obviously shows a remote that has already been opened. The first time a remote is cracked is considerably more difficult. 
Alan,
Thank you.
I need to disassemble the broken thumbwheel assembly to install a new cradle.
How do I disassemble the thumbwheel?
It appears that the rotating electrical part needs to be unsoldered from the circuit board in order to remove it from the broken cradle. Is this correct?
Any hints on how to unsolder the three posts?
Yes. if you put it together wrong the thumbwheel will take extra pressure to work and you'll brake the new cradle again there very fragile!
Alan
if your concerned about soldering to the circuit board just cut the wires and splice it to the wires from the pc board to the thumbwheel assembly!
Alan
John GRJ thee video does show you how to dissemble the 2 halves you must not have watched the whole video!
Alan
I watched the video Alan, my point is a new remote that has never been apart does NOT come apart quite that easily.
@Alan Mancus posted:if your concerned about soldering to the circuit board just cut the wires and splice it to the wires from the pc board to the thumbwheel assembly!
GAD! Don't do that! If you are not comfortable soldering the wires back on properly, let someone else do the repair! I've had to start sending back repairs where someone has gotten into a locomotive or device and cobbled it up and then decided they couldn't really fix it. Remember...
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It is not easy. You need to desolder the 3 prongs from the pcb board without damaging traces or the pins. Once PCB is off, you can remove the old plastic. G
I was able to get some cradles and thumbwheel assembles from MTH recently after seeing the posts on the forums. I found a small electronics shop locally that does fine soldering work on boards etc. they were very quickly and cheaply able to solder off the pc boards so the thumbwheels could be remounted to the new cradles and re-solder them. Quick easy and cheap.
However I got a few spares of the cradle but I had thought I had read some where that MTH was going to make a reinforced cradle to lessen the chance of breaking as they are currently a very weak design prone to breaking?? The cradles I received looked just like the original design??? Hoping that my supply will last as I have several old remotes and some new ones coming.
Remotes have worked far better then phones when Covid clears a bit hoping to get back to operating sessions with groups and novice users. The remotes work very well for guests!
If I interpreted the @MTH RD response in this thread properly, the new "beefed up" cradles are not going to be sold separately.
It sounds like the design changed such that the new thumb wheel assembly can be used in either new or old remotes (minor wiring instructional addendum included in order to use it with old remotes - wire order is different).
While the assembly is backwards compatible, it sounds like there were design changes that would not let you use the new cradle with the old thumb wheel.
-Dave
There are two techniques to unsolder the three prongs.
One is to use solder wick or a desoldering tool to remove the solder from the pcb and the pins
The other is to add more solder to all three pins keeping them all in a liquid state until the pcb can be lifter off.
I use a Masonite block that is cut to fit into the bottom to apply pressure on the wheel components when re soldering everything back together. This keeps everything tight in case the little lock tab has been bent back too far and no longer holds the pcb.
Good luck!
