[Elecraft] K2 Main dial problem

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

The main dial moves very hard most of the time, but sometimes it is
possible to get it moved easily, as it has been before. I'm not aware of
any 
mechanical
shock or other kind of damage that would explain it. Unmounting the knob
doesn't change it. Is there a chance that the optical shaft encoder just
needs some kind of 
clean-up?
Gernot
DF5RF


That happened to me once. I discovered that a few "hairs" from the felt
washer had gotten entangled in the shaft bearing. They darn near froze
it 'solid'. I managed to grab the end of each hair with tweezers and
turn the shaft the right direction to unwind it and pull it out. There
were two or three in there at various stages of being pulled into
bushing. 

Once I got them out, the shaft rotated as freely as ever. Well, almost a
freely. I noticed that I didn't need any "washer drag" on the shaft for
about six months after that. I suspect a bit broke off of one of the
hairs. But it turned very smoothly and easily. 

I carefully trimmed any "fuzz" off of the washer before using it again
and have not had a repeat of the problem.

Ron AC7AC
K2 # 1289