[TowerTalk] TB3 Postmortem

[K9MA]

After nearly 30 years of holding up my TH7 and D40, the thrust bearing 
was pretty rough. The T2X never had any trouble turning it, but I took 
it apart to see what was going on. I found the surfaces of the two 
aluminum pieces deeply indented by the ball bearings. It's scrap metal 
now, but I wonder if the long periods I left the antenna in one position 
might have made things worse. Would it have helped to just turn it once 
a week or so? Or is such failure inevitable? After all, once the 
bearings create the slightest indentation, they're going to always 
settle into those positions, making them worse. I suppose one could 
periodically take it down and smooth out the surfaces, but who is going 
to bother with that? It lasted almost 30 years, so I got my money's worth.

Another possibility: Would it be better to leave the bearing set screws 
slightly loose, so the rotator takes the vertical load?

73,

Scott K9MA

-- 
Scott  K9MA

k9ma at sdellington.us