[TowerTalk] Rotor Stripping Gears?

[Al Williams]

A cutaway drawing of the M2 2800 rotator shows five (5) regular type gears 
between the mast clamp/mast and the worm drive!
 I have noticed that there is a fair amount of movement of the boom caused 
by the wind apparently acting on the backlash of the five gears.

The M2 specification lists a braking torque of 17000 in-lbs while also 
stating that "Precision wormdrive - cannot be reversed by mast torque; NO 
BRAKE RQD.  As mentioned by others M2 voids the warranty if the mast is 
pinned to the rotator clamps.

Question is, what does M2 really mean by their braking torque and how was it 
determined?  Also how does one determine the torque caused by the wind load 
and inertial load of the antenna/mast assembly?

Also note that there are two long elements on one side of the mast vs only 
one long element on the other side..

k7puc

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "peter.voelpel" <df3kv at t-online.de>

I learned it twice that worm-gear drive rotators also loose their gears.
Two of my Prosistel PST2051 failed with a beam of 0,9m² at 10m height and
only 60km/h wind gusts at that time.
The worm axle pushed the bearing completely out of the housing which 
ruined....