mntnflyr4fun
Member
Recently (post Whites plant closure/sale) my MXT PRO trigger switch failed and I decided to replace it myself after seeing that there were two versions on the Centerville Electronics (new whites service center) website. I purchased the one with the connector and wires installed to fit my vintage 2012 machine.
I am making this post as I searched the net for some information before trying this myself and found nothing so I just thought I would share and take the mystery out of it as this is most likely one of the most common failures on Mseries detectors.
The replacement is pretty simple if you have three hands....not really, but you do have to hold multiple things together during reassembly. I suspect there are a few other Mseries machines that have pretty much the same setup for the trigger.
Tools required: small/medium phillips screwdriver , a thin pry tool (I used a kitchen knife, and a small (or adjustable wrench) for the nut holding the trigger in place.
There are 5 phillips head screws on the back of the control head, the 4 around the perimeter holds the two halves of the display together, and the Larger one in the center holds the base with the trigger in it to the handle. All must be removed. The display element will be loose at this point so use care not to damage the mylar ribbon cable while fussing with the trigger removal/replacement. You could remove the ribbon cable connector as well, but I don't like messing around with them.
Once out, it is a simple matter to remove the nut on the trigger, pull it out of the handle and unplug from the circuit board. The molex connector on the end of the trigger wiring has a lock detent on it and using the kitchen knife as a pry tool it came right off. There is an adjacent connector holding a ribbon cable in place that I did not remove because those connectors can be a bit more fragile, but if it was taken off first you probably wouldn't need the pry tool, as it kinda blocks access to the trigger connector so I used the kitchen knife to reach in between the two connectors to release the catch on the trigger connector. It slide right off.
Replacement of the switch is simple except this is the part of the process where being pretty ambidextrous ( or having three hands) can be helpful as the trigger is up in a cavity inside the control head at a bit of a funky angle and so once it is in there, you have to keep some pressure on it to keep the threads on the switch pushed through while you re-install nut and washer and then just reinstall the large screw that holds handle to the control head. Once that's done, its pretty simple to get the LCD display lined back up in its holder and close the unit back up using the 4 screws. Be sure and pay attention to the orientation of the switch or the pinpoint function ends up being a push forward instead of a pull back function, which causes you to have to disassemble everything and do it again. (How do I know that?)
All in all definitely a DIY job, takes maybe 10 min or less if you get the switch in right the first time.
Difficulty 3 out of 10
Good Luck
I am making this post as I searched the net for some information before trying this myself and found nothing so I just thought I would share and take the mystery out of it as this is most likely one of the most common failures on Mseries detectors.
The replacement is pretty simple if you have three hands....not really, but you do have to hold multiple things together during reassembly. I suspect there are a few other Mseries machines that have pretty much the same setup for the trigger.
Tools required: small/medium phillips screwdriver , a thin pry tool (I used a kitchen knife, and a small (or adjustable wrench) for the nut holding the trigger in place.
There are 5 phillips head screws on the back of the control head, the 4 around the perimeter holds the two halves of the display together, and the Larger one in the center holds the base with the trigger in it to the handle. All must be removed. The display element will be loose at this point so use care not to damage the mylar ribbon cable while fussing with the trigger removal/replacement. You could remove the ribbon cable connector as well, but I don't like messing around with them.
Once out, it is a simple matter to remove the nut on the trigger, pull it out of the handle and unplug from the circuit board. The molex connector on the end of the trigger wiring has a lock detent on it and using the kitchen knife as a pry tool it came right off. There is an adjacent connector holding a ribbon cable in place that I did not remove because those connectors can be a bit more fragile, but if it was taken off first you probably wouldn't need the pry tool, as it kinda blocks access to the trigger connector so I used the kitchen knife to reach in between the two connectors to release the catch on the trigger connector. It slide right off.
Replacement of the switch is simple except this is the part of the process where being pretty ambidextrous ( or having three hands) can be helpful as the trigger is up in a cavity inside the control head at a bit of a funky angle and so once it is in there, you have to keep some pressure on it to keep the threads on the switch pushed through while you re-install nut and washer and then just reinstall the large screw that holds handle to the control head. Once that's done, its pretty simple to get the LCD display lined back up in its holder and close the unit back up using the 4 screws. Be sure and pay attention to the orientation of the switch or the pinpoint function ends up being a push forward instead of a pull back function, which causes you to have to disassemble everything and do it again. (How do I know that?)
All in all definitely a DIY job, takes maybe 10 min or less if you get the switch in right the first time.
Difficulty 3 out of 10
Good Luck