The first day of NZ Nationals was today and we were doing some last minute fixes on our robots before the real competition starts tomorrow.
I wasn’t watching at the time so I don’t know quite what happened, but the metal pin in one of the High Strength Motors snapped off.
Does anyone know an easy fix for this (or indeed if it is fixable at all, both legally and physically) or do we need to replace the whole thing?
Thank you in advance,
Steph
Not sure what metal pin you are talking about.
If it is an electrical pin at the end of the motor cable, then the whole connector at the end of the cable needs to be replaced (special tools and equipment). You will need to replace the motor in the short term.
If it is the motor shaft came out of the motor shaft socket, you can just re-insert it.
If it is the metal pin inside the case, that hold the internal gearhead gears;
they also are removable, maybe it just fell out of the socket? You can usually just put it back. If this pin socket is broken, then the motor is useless except for spare parts for other broken motors.
We had the same problem, we tightened our zip-ties we were using to hold the wires together a little too tight and the ends of the wires bent, causing the pins to bend as well. The motor stopped working and we found out that the pins had done more than simply bend, they had snapped and were laying in the sockets of the other wire-end. 
We just replaced the motor, we may end up fixing it, actually I’m not sure what has been done with it thus far.
~Jordan
Same thing happened here, I’m gonna at least attempt to fix it this summer. If anyone has some tips, they would be appreciated.
We’ve done this before too, but luckily only the wire on the motor controller broke and not the one on our HS motor.
A couple of months ago it became legal to use tape to hold the wire connectors together (https://vexforum.com/showpost.php?p=139240&postcount=2). My team has done this since then and hasn’t had a problem with wires breaking because of zip ties.
It is legal to repair the pins on a PWM connector, as long as the functionality isn’t changed. I have done this on a couple of occasions using only a pair of needle nose pliers and a pair of wire cutters. The hardest part of doing PWM repair is getting the actual pins, which need to be the right size in order to fit within the connector housing.
as others have said, it was the pin that plugs into the processor/extension cables etc. we’ve replaced the motor but it would still be nice if we found a good fix for it.
Thanks for that, might be even more difficult in new zealand hopefully we can get the bits though. thanks everybody 
we just snipped the broken end off and soldered new pins onto it
(and then taped it onto the motor controller)
We just soldered the broken pin back in. If you find it hard to get solder into the plastic, you can melt the plastic around the pins, although this should be a last resort when you don’t have any time to properly solder.
There is no need to melt any plastic! You can easily extract the contacts from the plastic housing and solder/re-crimp/replace them as needed, and then reinserting them.
Just (carefully) use the tip of a small craft knife to lift the little tab that holds each contact in place. Raise it about a millimeter and the contact should easily slide out. Don’t lift it too much or you can bend the tab out of shape.
You can get replacement contacts and crimping tools from a variety of vendors. I got mine from Hansen Hobbies.
Once you’ve made your repair, the contact just slides right back into the connector housing - no need to lift the tab.
If you can’t figure it out from my written description above, let me know and I’ll try to post some pictures of the whole process.
Cheers,