[R-390] Gear Train Guru Wanted

Barry Hauser Barry Hauser" <[email protected]
Sat, 3 Aug 2002 11:50:38 -0400 

Hi Walter .. again ...

Sounds good.  It would also be OK I suppose if some others on the list with
a gear train teardown in progress shot a few photos and sent them on to you.
This would be in the spirit of a joint project and ... (read Groucho-style)
we could use a few more projects around this joint (raise eyebrows and flick
cigar.)

Now that you mention it -- a preparatory nap of at least 2 hrs. should be
recommended before starting.  Should be full horizontal position to maximize
blood flow to the brain as a warmup.  If that's not enough and there are
signs of the jitters, a suitable liquid sedative & confidence booster should
be included in the chemicals kit along with the carb cleaner, WD-40, Mobil
One, and so on.

BTW - Jim Temple's advice about having a spare deck on hand sounds good to
me.  Or even another whole R-390A.  Even with the panel in place, you can
peek behind it, but would that be cheating?

Barry


> 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
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > _______________________________________________
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> > > > [email protected]
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> > > >
> > >
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> >
> >
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>
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