Paul Kimbrel's Musing

It was arduous, but I finally got the stinker of a rotor open. Doug’s pictures show it coming apart rather easily. Not my model! Before I continue, let me lay out some terminology. It’s not correct, I’m sure, but at least you’ll know what I’m talking about:

Antenna Shaft - The part of the rotor where the antenna mast attaches. This is the part on the outside that actually rotates.

Crank Shaft - The part inside the rotor that turns the antenna shaft.

Gear Assembly - The gears and associated shafts holding them together.

Drive Assembly - The motor and the initial gear that moves the whole thing.

Chassis - The surrounding metal casing.

My job would have been a lot easier if I had gotten a hold of an old Radio Shack rotor like Doug’s. And I may yet go get one (I can’t imagine it would be that hard). But I’ll try this anyhow since I have it.

Doug said he just took out the screws in the bottom of the rotor and whole gear assembly came out. Mine, however, seems to be permanently connected between the crank shaft and the antenna shaft. So I could get it pulled out to save my life.

I did notice that there was a retaining ring at the bottom of the crank shaft.

I figured - what the hey! Of course, I found I needed a new tool to do that (snap ring pliers). I got the tool, got the ring off and tried pulling it all apart. Still no dice. When in doubt - pull harder! “Chink chink chink”

Ball bearings start falling out. On my to do list - buy more bearings. It seems the crank shaft rides on some ball bearings in the the metal plate holding the drive and gear assemblies together. They’re not in a container of any kind. They’re just sitting there. That should be fun to reassemble!

But now I had the bottom out.

Here you can see where the ball bearing sat - where the crank shaft goes through (about 3/4 of the way down the picture).

Next up… acquiring the parts.