[TenTec] Balancing Orion 565 VFO knobs

[shristov]

Michael Cheponis <Michael at Cheponis.Com> wrote:

> I have a 566, and the knobs are perfectly balanced.


It's great to know that knobs on 566 do not drift by themselves.

I managed today to balance both of my 565 VFO knobs.
It was easier than expected, took me 15 minutes per knob.

Using an 8 mm slot drill, I cut out a ~2 mm deep hole,
on the bottom of the cast balancing hole,
just opposite of the fastening screw.

Quantity of material removed was very similar on both knobs:
approximately 100 mm^3, which is ~0.27 g of aluminium.

For the record:
  the knob itself is ~165 g
  skirt (made of metalized plastics) is ~8 g
  spring is ~1 g
  rubber is ~10 g

I completely ignored the skirt and the rubber
as being much lighter than the main knob part.

Now I can use a much lighter drag, similar to FT1000,
and VFO knobs are much more pleasant to use.


73,

Sinisa YT1NT, VE3EA