[R-390] More geartrain rebuild info

Fri Feb 25 19:46:32 EST 2005

Spare the hose, spoil the R390! Actually I have not sprayed any R390s yet,
but I did give my ART-13 and TCS gear a pool party.

Mike WB2UID
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Camp" <ham at cq.nu>
To: "Barry Hauser" <barry at hausernet.com>; "R-390 HF Receiver List"
<r-390 at mailman.qth.net>
Cc: "Barry" <n4buq at aol.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2005 9:57 AM
Subject: Re: [R-390] More geartrain rebuild info

> Hi
>
> If you do decide to go the dishwasher route be *very* careful to tie
> down the parts you are trying to clean. At least around here destroying
> the dishwasher by getting a gear stuck in the impeller would not
> enhance the reputation of the boat anchor effort ....
>
> As long as we are on exotic cleaning methods here's one that has not
> come up recently. Reasonable sized industrial ultrasonic cleaners show
> up surplus from time to time. The ones I would watch for are made by
> Crest Ultrasonics. They are a bit higher power than the hobby cleaners
> out there and are designed for 24/7 use. Even a fairly small one is
> plenty big enough to fit R-390 gears into. Since they are stainless
> steel you can use almost any solvent or cleaner in them. An over night
> run should do wonders ....
>
> If you are going to keep the gear halves together during cleaning then
> I suspect the only way to get the stuff out from between the gears is
> some kind of long soak ...
>
> Something that the industrial cleaning gear does is to re-distill the
> solvent. This lets you get a lot more miles out of a gallon of stuff.
> Might be a use for that moonshine setup out behind the barn ....
>
> Regardless of how you do the cleaning a good drying process is
> important. The family oven could be used, but a $3 garage sale toaster
> oven probably makes a bit more sense. You want to get the metal parts
> up to about 250F for 15 minutes or so to be sure you have driven off
> all the water or solvent.  Going a whole lot above this temperature
> doesn't do a lot of good and you may start to affect the parts. Another
> nice way to do this is with a surplus lab oven, provided you can pick
> one up cheap.
>
> The need for drying the parts is debatable, but I think it's well worth
> it if you are using soap and water. Even with solvents you can get some
> odd  results from small amounts of solvent mixing with lubricant. Air
> blow off is another alternative and it works, it's just a bit exciting
> when that little spring slips and now is *somewhere* over on the other
> side of the room ...
>
> Take Care
>
> Bob Camp
> KB8TQ
>
>
> On Feb 26, 2005, at 9:25 AM, Barry Hauser wrote:
>
> > Hi Barry & gang:
> >
> > Sometimes, the thing to try if petroleum based solvents and/or
> > trichloroethylene don't work is hot soapy water -- or very hot water
> > itself.
> >
> > The kerosene or denatured alchohol will get some of it, but the
> > hardened stuff may need some heat.  If detergent doesn't work, try
> > mild bar soap --  old fashioned stearate-based soap, like Ivory.  You
> > might still need to use an old toothbrush or nylon auto detailing
> > brush -- or that electric toothbrush that needs a new brush end
> > anyway.
> >
> > Another idea -- one of those small steam cleaners -- if you already
> > have one.  If you're in a hurry, an "As seen on TV" version can be
> > bought at places like Walgreens. (They still steam-clean car engines,
> > don't they?) Might work, and they're fairly cheap.
> >
> > Some have reported good results with the dishwasher -- that means
> > super hot water and maybe some dishwashing detergent too.  I haven't
> > yet been so bold, but I have been surprised from time to time, after
> > struggling with one aggressive chemical after another, that hot soapy
> > water cleaned something up right away.  Of course, the part was
> > ususally hit with a few different solvents first, so may be a combined
> > effect.
> >
> > Barry
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Barry" <n4buq at aol.com>
> > To: "R-390 HF Receiver List" <r-390 at mailman.qth.net>
> > Sent: Friday, February 25, 2005 9:30 AM
> > Subject: Re: [R-390] More geartrain rebuild info
> >
> >
> >> This geartrain was just a tad dirtier than my first one, but not by
> >> much. I
> >> did not tear down the first one because I had no instructions for
> >> putting it
> >> back together.  Now that I've done the complete teardown on this one
> >> and
> >> found what I have found, once I get this radio finished, I'm probably
> >> going
> >> to tear down my first one and do a complete cleanup on it too.
> >>
> >> After taking all the gears off, I took the cam/frame assembly to the
> >> automotive shop here at work and washed it in one of their parts
> >> cleaning
> >> tanks.  It didn't really do much to cut the dried grease.  I tried
> >> denatured
> >> alchohol with not much better results and am now using kerosene.
> >> That works
> >> a little better than the other things I've tried, but it doesn't
> >> really
> >> dissolve the dried grease without a lot of rubbing either.  While it
> >> might
> >> work better, I really don't want to have an open container of
> >> gasoline. Any
> >> other good solvents?  Brake Cleaner?  Carb Cleaner?  Fire?
> >>
> >> Barry(III) - N4BUQ
> >>
> >
> >
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