the REAL problem with my Dustbuster...

No. That's for soft rubber. Plasticizer is what softens plastics. Quite the opposite in epoxies.

However, after doing my homework AFTER posting the above, I recalled that stainless will self corrode:

"In an earlier post, I mentioned that the stainless alloys can galvanically corrode by themselves without the presence of a dissimilar metal. This characteristic is a property of almost all nickel alloys not just the 18-8 (400 series) and 18-8-3 (300 series) of stainless alloys. It is indeed unfortunate that these alloys were given the name "stainless" since they can often corrode under relatively mild conditions." However, that takes years, not months as the OP alleges.

Yep. I consider myself part of the problem, not the solution. I also don't like being called an idiot by someone that doesn't bother to substantiate their allegations. If this discussion had remained on the original topic (Dustbuster), I would have been terminally bored and not bothered reading further. Sometimes the topic drift is more interesting than the original topic. I'm far more interested in building capacitive discharge spot welders than fixing dust busters.

I guess we need to throw out all the flashlight battery designs and similar battery holders. I could probably get an adequate connection by simply pressing the flat wire to the battery terminal, and jamming it in place with an added spring, rubber block, or wad of something compressible. However, if the current drain really is 3A, not the 1A I was guessing, it probably won't last.

Sure. Most of those failures are from corrosion. If you environmentally isolate the junction, such as burying it under a blob of epoxy (or other glue), it's unlikely to corrode. The rest are from arcing, which can be reduced by avoiding pointy contacts.

Yep. (Reminder: I used to design marine radios.)

Yep.

I earlier made a remark about springs -- which flashlights and battery holders have in abundance. Sometimes the battery holder /is/ the spring.

I just got back from Batteries Plus. The guy was courteous, and I bought some 9V batteries I needed. I reinstalled the battery, and everything is now hunky-dorey. Knowing my luck, the battery will fail tomorrow (though I doubt it).

Yep. I have a few of those that use "flexible" plastic to provide the spring tension. They last about 5-10 years, until the plasticizer dries out. Then, they remain permantently deformed, or cold flow into a useless shape. I hit them with a hot air gun, and try to melt the plastic back in shape. Sometimes it works, but usually, all the tension is gone.

Nice. Is it too late to have you measure the operating current of the Dustbuster to satisify my curiosity?

It is. I've unbuttoned and rebuttoned it so many times I don't feel like doing it again. But I suspect your 3A estimate is good. The unit uses sub-C cells, and runs less than 20 minutes on high -- probably closer to 10.

There is no cutting action in the wirewrap process.. and the post/terminal isn't typically deformed, the wire is.

The round wire surface is displaced by the corners of the post (conforms to the corners), breaking thru any surface oxidation of the surfaces, and creating the gas-tight, electrically secure mechanical connection after several/6 wraps are completed.

-- Cheers, WB .............