[R-390] Gear Train Guru Wanted

Walter Wilson Walter Wilson" <[email protected]
Sat, 3 Aug 2002 10:56:08 -0400 

Barry and others,

Thanks for the comments.  I especially like your suggestions about the
numbers and arrow pointing to the gears to be removed or aligned, and can
make some improvements with these existing photos.  I may also take your
suggestion of a PREV/NEXT sequence, just to make it more navigation friendly
and to control the print pagination.  I'll have to take some more pics
during the next rebuild, as I didn't take too many more than shown during
this rebuild.  I really do need to take some good pics of the intermittent
gear, as I've had to refer to the manuals a few times to get mine back
together correctly.  I've got a really nasty but spare RF deck and gear
train in the workshop, and I might tackle that one sometime this fall.

I don't believe I want to turn this into a Heathkit experience yet, but a
better sequence and layout may be called for the next time I take the pics.
The hotline will be open only on evenings from 7-9 PM EDT, Saturday
afternoon following my nap, and Sundays before the R-390 net.

BTW, it's nice to be back on topic.

Cheers!
Walter Wilson - KK4DF
http://r-390a.us
(REAL Radios: R-390A, R-390, T-368E, Ranger, Thunderbolt, KWM-2A)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Barry Hauser" <[email protected]>
To: "Walter Wilson" <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, August 03, 2002 9:43 AM
Subject: Re: [R-390] Gear Train Guru Wanted


> Hi Walter:
>
> The photo sequence and instructions on your site are terrific -- many
> thanks.  However, I see where you started to move from "baby steps" to
giant
> ones, no doubt owing to the web storage limits.  Later on, you go with
more
> of a verbal description.
>
> I just spent about 30 mins., so need to look over it more to see where to
> add intermediate steps.  Meanwhile, I humbly submit the following
> suggestions:
>
> 1.  Superimpose number labels on the gears that are about to be removed.
> Maybe I'm a dummy, but I had to flip back and forth between adjoining
photos
> a few times before I could spot what was coming off.  It might be a good
> idea to use the numbering scheme from the manual blowup.
>
> 2.  Use arrows in addition to "spotlight" highlighting.  In particular,
it's
> a bit difficult to make out the two gears that should not be meshed.
>
> 3.  Do a step by step reassembly sequence, not simply rely on the
"assembly
> is simply the reverse of dissasembly" approach.  Fact is, it's not, and
> that's where a lot of the vebiage comes in.  You can re-use most of the
> disassembly shots, but the key difference is this is where the
> synchronization takes place.  (Actually, the _assembly_ sequence is more
> important than the disassembly -- it's generally possible to take
something
> apart with little or no instructions, however, tradition has been the ol'
> "reverse of dissassembly" thing.)
>
> 4.  Maybe I didn't notice, but along the way I recalled some advice from
> various posts to the reflector.  For example, the split gears may have
> burred or chamfered over from wear such that they won't slip smoothly
> against each other -- which is easy to test with the gear sets out and the
> springs removed.  Someone had recommended (Nolan?) to lightly polish the
> mating surfaces with very fine grit abrasive - or maybe a wet stone?  May
> not be necessary in most cases, but this would be the time to fix them..
>
> 5.  I test printed everything in black & white on a 600 dpi laser printer,
> just to check if all the detail comes through.  Sometimes, even starting
> from excellent quality color, detail is lost when adjoining parts are of
> similar color or shade.  They print quite well in B&W -- the detail and
> contrast hold up.  Only thing I'd point out is the superimposed text about
> the two-gears-not-to-mesh is hard to read in B&W.  While the color
contrasts
> on screen, the shade is too close for B&W.  It's over a shadow, so yellow
> would work better when printed in B&W.
>
> 6.  It would be good to illustrate directly how to set up the intermittent
> gear, rather than refer to the manual -- so your creation can be a
> stand-alone.
>
> 7.  I strongly (but humbly ;-) suggest that you leave the disassembly be
for
> now, and start with the assembly sequence.  This will make it clearer as
to
> what additional shots are needed.  In many cases, photos can be the same
> between the assembly and disassembly sequences, so it won't be added
> storage, just an html photo link.  You probably have a lot of the photos
> already.
>
> 8.  I dunno -- might be better to break it up into pages with "next"
> buttons.  This would help control the pagination for printing purposes and
> it might make it easier for you to clone assembly from dissassembly pages
by
> doing a "save as" as a first step before editing.
>
> 9.  Now this one will illicit an involuntary ROTFL reaction in some
readers,
> but ... For a real gear-train-for-dummiies no-brainer approach, someone
> could put together a grid that prints out on, say 4 pages to be taped
> together which would have a place to lay down each part as they're
removed,
> with the corresponding reference number.  Many of the gears look different
> enough, some look similar and some may be the same/interchangable or maybe
> not, duhhhhhh.  Eventually, we could turn the R-390A into a true Heathkit
> experience. ;-).
>
> 10.  An emergency 24/7 hotline to call.  OK, I've gone too far.
>
> Great site, though.  Hope you use this in the spirit intended (everybody's
a
> critic, yadda yadda).  I posted my suggestions in case some one else has
> additional or alternative ideas.
>
> Barry
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Walter Wilson" <[email protected]>
> To: "Barry Hauser" <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>
> Sent: Saturday, August 03, 2002 7:31 AM
> Subject: Re: [R-390] Gear Train Guru Wanted
>
>
> > You may have seen the pictures I have posted on my website already.  I
> think
> > there are only eight shots taken during disassembly, but I've used these
> > pics a number of times when rebuilding gear trains, and they work well
for
> > me.  If you'd like more pics added to this sequence, give me some idea
of
> > where you'd like to see more details.  At one time, I was limiting the
> > number due to web space size restrictions, which is no longer an issue.
> > http://r-390a.us/gear_train_rebuild.htm
> >
> > Walter Wilson - KK4DF
> > http://r-390a.us
> > (REAL Radios: R-390A, R-390, T-368E, Ranger, Thunderbolt, KWM-2A)
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Barry Hauser" <[email protected]>
> > To: <[email protected]>
> > Sent: Saturday, August 03, 2002 12:40 AM
> > Subject: Re: [R-390] Gear Train Guru Wanted
> >
> >
> > > OK Gang,
> > >
> > > Hate to be a wet blanket, but I have an on topic type post here I've
> been
> > > sittin' on.
> > >
> > > One area for improvement in the Y2K manual is in the gear train
> > department.
> > > What we still have there is that exploded line drawing with dotted
> zig-zag
> > > lines.  I don't know about you, but it doesn't really fill me with a
> whole
> > > lot of confidence to pursue a full teardown, cleaning and reassembly
> with
> > > that as a guide.
> > >
> > > Sooooo... it would be great if one of you geartrain experts with a
> decent
> > > digital camera would do a teardown/reassembly, stopping at each baby
> step
> > to
> > > snap a photo, so the rest of us can have a shot at it one of these
days.
> > It
> > > could use a little bit of narrative, but the pictures would do most of
> the
> > > talking.
> > >
> > > Any takers?  Who's gonna be the hero?
> > >
> > > Barry
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > R-390 mailing list
> > > [email protected]
> > > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/r-390
> > >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > R-390 mailing list
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>
>
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