Please Help A Newbie Solder A Wire That Snapped Off A Circuit Board (on a 1998 Furby)

[QTT]

Hello! I'm both new to this forum and electronic repairs, so I would super appreciate anyone's understanding and patience.

The situation:
-A wire came loose off of a component on this circuit board and I would like to reattach it. I understand that the best solution would be to solder it, but I'm worried about messing up
-This particular piece of electronic is at least 20 years old. It's an original 1998 furby. I have no idea if the original solder is lead-free or not, but it's definitely not as shiny as a lot of example images I've seen on the internet.
-I have no prior experience with soldering
-I only have ready access to a 30w soldering iron and lead-free rosin core solder (if I want anything with lead in it, I'll have to wait months for it to be shipped to me)
-I'd like to keep this simple fix as low-cost as I can if possible -- I have no intention of soldering anything ever again if I can avoid it
-Here's an image of the detached wire: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/532550509765066803/556095603969359882/image0.jpg
-Here's an illustration of what it's supposed to look like vs what it looks like now: https://gyazo.com/5c896336d4b490812abb271915277e20
-The working area is really awkward and tight (at least, for me)

What I'm considering doing:
1) Take off some of the insulation off the ends of the loosened wire and pre-tin it using my lead-free rosin core solder
2) reheat the original solder on the device by touching them with the soldering iron and press the ends of the wire back where they're meant to be.

My questions:
1) Is there something wrong with tackling it like this?
2) The original wires seem to have been threaded through the metal tongues ("contacts"? I'm not sure what the terminology is) of the tilt sensor but I was wondering if I could safely get away with just attaching them to the surface of the metal without going through the holes? (The holes are currently inaccessible bc of the original solder)

How did this happen? I'm trying to get my girlfriend's furby working again for her. I was cleaning the intermittent tilt sensor of a 1998 furby but since the insides of these things tend to be swimming in hot-glue, I had to take off some of the ancient and crusty hot-glue to get full access to it. When removing a chunk of glue, I accidentally ripped one of the tiny wires attached to the tilt-sensor. I've visited 3 local electronic repair stores (they mostly specialise in phones and laptops) asking if they'd do the job for me (paid, of course) but they've all turned the request down for some reason.

 

[Ian Rogers]

If you are not confident then I suggest let someone else do it... At the market find a mobile phone repair stall, ask if they can just pop it back on for you.. I very much doubt they would ask for much... If its a collectable, you won't want to ruin it..

 

[JimB]

I only have ready access to a 30w soldering iron and lead-free rosin core solder

Leaded and lead free solder will join together OK.

1) Is there something wrong with tackling it like this?

No.

I was wondering if I could safely get away with just attaching them to the surface of the metal without going through the holes?

Yes, no problem.

I've visited 3 local electronic repair stores (they mostly specialise in phones and laptops) asking if they'd do the job for me (paid, of course) but they've all turned the request down for some reason.

Because they are a bunch of chickens and probably cannot solder anyway.
At the basic level I don't think that you need to be able to solder to "repair" a phone or laptop anyway.

Good luck in your task.

JimB

 

[QTT]

Ian Rogers Thanks for the suggestion! I really am trying to find a willing (and experienced) person for the job, but living in the middle of nowhere doesn't make that easy.

JimB Awesome, thank you so much for your responses! I completely forgot to highlight my worry about the lead-free and possibly-leaded solder not being compatible, but you answered that too! Much appreciated.

I'll provide updates on how this fix goes.

 

[throbscottle]

You would be wise to practice soldering and trimming insulation off wires first before doing it for real. You can get thin wire out of old cables eg old usb cables, old a/v cables etc (well you could out of new ones too but why spend?)
The "tongues" are called tags (but I like your name for them!). If you have some old scissors (or better still, actual metal shears) you can cut some strips about the same width from old tin can lids (be careful the cut metal is very sharp) as practice pieces. The plating on the metal does take solder albeit not very well - if you can solder wires onto those you are in good shape for Furby.
Your hand is bound to shake a bit and the length of the soldering iron amplifies this, so arrange as much support for your hand as you comfortably can whilst soldering. Deep breaths help.
Be super careful with hot iron around Furby. Soldering irons stay hot a long time after you turn them off!
It's most likely to be solder with lead in it, btw.

 

[QTT]

throbscottle Oh that's a great idea. I'll do that before I even touch the furby, thanks! (And I appreciate the terminology + words of caution!)

 

[Pommie]

Your drawing makes it look like you could just wrap fuse wire around the two terminals and just twist it together.

Mike.