I am currently in the throes of checking out three
fairly old (20 years?) Hygain Tailtwister rotators
prior to installation. Also one HamIV.
Of course, I marked the relative position of the
housing pieces before I started, and opened them
inside a clean Rubbermaid container to catch any
bearings that escape - I learned this YEARS ago ;-)
Also, before I send them up the tower I will verify
they are all pointing North!
Anyway, I am replacing the (slightly corroded)
terminal strips with the Rotor Doc's quick connects.
I have also replaced one (so far) direction-indicating
wirewound potentiometer - it had a noisy/dead spot
which was a visibly "flattened" area in the windings
that resulted in the control box's meter swingy wildly
when the rotator turned through that direction. I
don't know what caused the flat area; it wasn't
discolored.
I am also cleaning the limit switch contacts with some
brown paper bag strips soaked in contact cleaner slid
between the closed contacts. This paper removed a
surprising amount of gunk!
I have looked over the bearings and their "races" for
damage/rust/flat spots but have found none. I don't
know if I will change the grease - it looks OK, but it
is 20 years old at this point so I'm wondering...
maybe some low-temp stuff from the snowmobile shop?
Any common failures to look for in the brake hardware,
etc.? Any other trouble spots I should look for?
I will definitely summarize any hints for posterity.
Maybe have some photos, too, if anyone's interested.
Mike N2MG
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See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
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