Hi Niall,
Of course. My English is a bit rusty, so please don’t mind any mistakes :-)
Actually, I don’t know anything about VEB Galvano dryers, but I do own an old one from Buescher. In German, we have two types of plugs for these machines: “Kaltgerätestecker” (inlet connector for non-heating appliances?) and “Heiße Stecker”. "Kaltgerätestecker" is the one on your computer's power supply, "Heiße stecker" looks like this: (don't mind the photo...)
heissgeraete.jpg. My bathroom tiles are 25x25cm.
Werner added that normal soldering shouldn't work because of the high temperature inside the plug (your dryer gets quite hot, I suppose). I cannot confirm this; mine works. I soldered mine just like any other device. However, plugs with screw-on cables are indeed much more common.
Those plugs were used on older German irons or waffle irons. As Werner wrote, they were made from ceramic or bakelite-type plastics.
If you can’t manage to get a proper plug, try using (and bear in mind the serious risks to both life and health!!!) two banana plugs attached to a cable. I hope Werner won’t read this ;-)
Best regards and greetings from Sindelfingen,
Franz
(To everyone else: Niall asked me by email to write in English, as he can read it better. To all: Niall asked me to reply in English. He doesn’t read German very well. A German translation of this post follows below.)
Here is the German translation for anyone who may not be so confident in their English:
Hi Niall,
Of course. However, my English is getting a bit rusty, so please don’t mind any mistakes.
I don’t know anything about the presses from VEB Galvano, but I have an old one from Büscher myself. In Germany, there are two types of plugs for these devices: ‘cold plug’ and ‘hot plug’. A ‘cold plug’ is the one on your computer power supply; a ‘hot plug’ looks something like this (link). Don’t mind the photo. My bathroom tiles measure 25 by 25 cm.
Werner added that standard soldering isn’t sufficient (I assume your dry press gets very hot inside too). I can’t confirm that; I soldered my plug just like everything else. However, screw terminals are more common with these plugs anyway.
These plugs were quite common in Germany for irons or waffle makers and are – as Werner wrote – usually made of ceramic or bakelite.
If you can’t get hold of a plug like that, then use two (and bear in mind the risks to both life and health!) banana plugs and attach them to a cable. (I hope Werner isn’t reading this – it’s probably done and dusted by now. Werner will have read this right now).
Kind regards and best wishes from Sindelfingen,
Franz
