What grease should I use for the ball bearings ? Anyone use synthetic grease
?
BobK6UJ
On Monday, December 3, 2018, 12:39:53 PM PST, terry burge
<ki7m@comcast.net> wrote:
Concerning the hygain rotors. If you ever take one apart it can create a real
mess and you can have ball bearings from here till dooms day. I use a large
plastic tub of some kind about 2 1/2' square and 1' deep. Anything like this
will do. Once the bearings start falling out it can be 'fun and games' getting
them to stay in the races. A good amount of lithium grease or similar sticky
stuff is a must. My tail twisters have some kind of plastic or (some) a metal
device that is to hold the bearings in. But once they start failing out all
bets are off.
A weak spot of these rotors is the reastat (however it's spelled) loses
electrical contact with the copper direction wiper. It can be cleaned up with
cleaner and emery cloth. I think emery cloth would be better than steel wool
but you need good contact with wiper and reasts for the direction meter to
work. Be gentile and don't bend things much. An almost simpler method is to
order a new copper wiper and reastat from HyGain/MFJ if you can understand the
on line catalog. I find it kind of a pain and once ordering relays ended up
with two metal plates for my remote switch. Relays they weren't. Some emails or
phone calls and another order and I had replacement relays. Half my antenna
ports failed so I figured it was one of two relays.
Anyway, the big things with is that working with these rotors aren't too bad
and with some precautions they can be cleaned up and made to work. Just use a
tub of some kind unless you like chasing the cat around on hands and knees to
get the bearings back. What a mess. And you don't want any rolling around
inside the bell housings during operation. Putting the rotor back together the
bell has to be aligned properly to work in the slots. If I recall the problem
shows up as the motor runs but the bell does not turn or only turns part way.
Kind of a funky looking setup and can take awhile to say 'Ah-Hah', that's how
it works'. Of course in the mean time bearing can be failing out of the races!
With the wedge break models (larger models) the wedge slips into the gear like
slots around the lower bell housing. Pretty much the whole things should be
greased well with some quality product that will stand up to wet and freezing
conditions. Bearings, wedge, gears, etc. There maybe some product that will
work well to keep the direction indicator lubed and functioning right but I
don't recall what it might be. Got to conduct the current to work the meter.
Meters not indicating are a weak point and it always seem to be because of poor
contact of the reastat and wiper.
If you take on the challenge of opening one of these or any rotor...do it
slowly noting the position of things like bell housing and their matching
slots, meter/restat, wedge break, etc. And use the large tub because it seem
like you always end up chasing bearings. A good parts store or bearing dealer
may be able to supply replacement missing bearings if you can find one. I once
added bearings to one of the lesser earlier models just because I thought the
idea of more bearings in the races made a lot of sense. Not sure if it helped
but I was always building bigger and bigger antennas for that Ham 2 or whatever
way back when.
Hope this will help someone with this doable but challenging task. And ALWAYS
test the rotor thoroughly before reinstalling it on the mast or tower. An ounce
of prevention....
Terry
KI7M
> On December 3, 2018 at 9:14 AM Bryan Swadener via TowerTalk
> <towertalk@contesting.com> wrote:
>
>
> Hi Ed,
> That good info but, not ALL Hy-Gain rotators are the general "bell" style.
> The HDR-300 that came w/ my TX-472 tower is Hy-Gain's "red headed step child"
> and is completely different. With some info from Craig Henderson "The Rotor
> Doc" and a couple others, I've resolved MOST of their design errors.
> vy 73,Bryan WA7PRC
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2018 07:35:06 -0800
> From: Ed AG6CX
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Ham Antenna Rotator: The Teardown
>
> Interesting article recently noted
>
> https://www.electronicdesign.com/analog/ham-antenna-rotator-teardown
>
> Ed McCann
> AG6CX
> _______________________________________________
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