Fluke 187 repair of input socket

[theHWcave]

Got this one very reasonably from eBay because of "problems". Turns out that the rightmost socket is not working. As this is the one for volts/ohms/diode... it renders the meter to just do currents. 
I thought it's just a cracked solder joint and re soldered the pins (several times) as seen on the first picture. No joy. There is no continuity from whatever is plugged into that socket to the pins on the PCB. Finally I gave in and looked for a socket replacement.
Asking Fluke GB resulted in an offer to send it for repair at >£400. Thanks but no. Socket assemblies on eBay are quite expensive and overseas (adding import duty worries). I found a post from 2016 from @MosherIV in this forum where he got spare parts for his Fluke 187 from a UK company S J Electronics http://www.sjelectronics.co.uk/. They still exist and although their website doesn't show any spare parts, I fired of a question using their contact form and this worked! They were very helpful in tracking down the part number needed and the assembly seen in the first picture costs only £8 + VAT +shipping.  Highly recommended

Removing the old one and cleaning the holes turned out to be quite a bit of work (except for the rightmost socket) but solder wick did the job

The cause of the problem is shown in the 3rd picture. The pins of the socket had sheared-off and judging from the tarnished look of the fraction faces, that must have been some time ago. My guess is that a normal (not a shrouded plug!) in that socket suffered a violent sideways knock, for example when the meter fell and hit the ground with the plug making contact first. That sideways knock simply sheared the connection pins off the PCB. It probably would not have happened with a shrouded plug because the shroud surrounding and supporting the socket would have transferred much of the force to the case. But for a standard 4mm banana plug, the socket is basically a free-standing pipe that is only fixed with the 2 pins at the bottom with no other support. I never thought of this before but it seems many multimeter socket constructions are quite vulnerable for that sort of accident. Good to know.

Anyway, fitting the new socket was easy and there are plastic pins and holes in the PCB that ensure it only clips in the right way so that the black COM socket is where it should be.

With that relative painless fix, my Fluke 187 is now fully functional