Darrell Bellerive <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> made an utterance to the drakelist gang ---------------------------------------------------------------------- There have been some interesting responses to my question about lubrication. Thanks to all who have replied.
Here's what I've learned so far. 1) Be cautious about lubricating plastic or nylon parts as petroleum based lubricants can damage the plastic or nylon. Some forms of Nylon are self lubricating and do not need lubricant. 2) Don't mix lubricants unless you know they are compatible. If you can't remove all the old lubricant, use what was already there. And not all white lithium greases have the same base. Some use a petroleum base, while others use a silicone base. 3) Choose a lubricant that corresponds to the load. For example, grease for automobile wheel bearings is not suitable for use in capacitor ball bearings as it is too coarse. So this has got me rethinking the lube job. I see no evidence of any previous lube on the two plastic or nylon wheels in the dial pointer mechanism. I'm not sure what the wheels are actually made of. So probably best not to lube them. The ball bearings in the variable caps look fairly clean. Question now is what did the capacitor manufacturer(s) originally use to lube them? I do not wish to even think about removing the variable capacitors or the passband tuning unit. While these controls do move fairly well, they are not smooth through their entire rotation, exhibiting stiffer and easier rotation at places. While I should be able to lube the ball bearings in the variable capacitors with grease and a toothpick, the shaft sleeves are more difficult. Perhaps rather than do more damage with some lube spray I should just live with them as they are. I don't see any other way to lube the shafts of the preselector capacitor and the passband tuning unit other than spraying into the knob end of the sleeves. Perhaps a bit of new grease in the preselector capacitor ball bearings will be enough without worrying about lubing the shaft. The main tuning knob shaft is easy to clean and relube. Probably a good candidate for white lithium grease. Also I don't see any evidence of grease along the metal where the dial pointer slides. In cleaning up this panel, I am removing what I suspect is residue from cigarette or tobacco smoke. Perhaps just getting rid of that gummy substance will be enough for the dial pointer without any lube. And that combined with a bit of new grease on the capacitor ball bearings and the main tuning knob shaft may be good enough. Not sure if the bandswitch bearing and detent at the rear of the 2-B was lubed at the factory or not. I will open it and see. The bandswitch actually moves quite well. Also the pots that are only set during alignment will be left alone, except if they indicate a problem during the realignment. Only then will they get a shot of Deoxit. I have new pots for the AF and RF gain controls. The bandswitch contacts will still be cleaned up with deoxit and a foam swap. Please keep those emails coming as I am learning a great deal. 73, Darrell VA7TO On Thursday 24 July 2008 20:12, Darrell Bellerive wrote: > What lubricants do you use for the ball bearings, sleeve bearings, and > other moving parts. > > I see in the archives that lithium grease is popular and Tri-Flow teflon > Superior Lubricant has been used. > > I would like to lube the following parts: > > 1) Preselector shaft and ball bearings. I am a bit scared of this one as it > incorporates a reduction drive and I am afraid that changing the friction > may affect the reduction drive. > > 2) Main tuning capacitor ball bearings. > > 3) The two plastic wheels at the top of the dial string pointer mechanism. > > 4) The dial pointer. > > 5) The main tuning shaft. I will also experiment with slightly thicker > washers to see if I can eliminate the fore and aft play. Perhaps a felt > washer may do the trick. > > 6) The detent at the rear of the bandswitch. > > 7) The passband tuning control shafts. This one looks difficult. > > I will clean the bandswitch contacts with a foam swab and deoxit, and spray > the pots and slide switches with deoxit. I will make note of the position > of the pots before spraying them and return them to their original > position. I do plan on doing an alignment and fine tuning them then. > > Anyone successful at cleaning the bandwidth rotary switch contacts? They > appear to be completely hidden. > > Any tips, tricks, suggestions, or cautions on the above? > > For those of you getting tired of my many posts, this is the end of my > weekend as I get Wednesday and Thursday off, so there won't be as many > posts for the next 5 days. :-) > > Thanks to everyone who has offered advice and encouragement. It is much > appreciated. > > 73, Darrell VA7TO -- Darrell Bellerive Amateur Radio Stations VA7TO and VE7CLA Grand Forks, British Columbia, Canada ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Submissions: [email protected] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - unsubscribe drakelist in body Hopelessly Lost: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - help in body of message Zerobeat Web Page: www.zerobeat.net - sponsored by www.tlchost.net ----------------------------------------------------------------------
