Lightbridge Owners, Respond Please!!!

astronut (John) · #1 26-12-2006, 02:28 PM

To all LB owners, please check the part of your alt brake that is mounted on the side board. Mine has split in half after 9 months of use, from what I can tell the alt bearing has scoured it over time to the point that it's eaten all the way through.
It appears that it's a combination of material that is too thin and poorly thought out.
Here are some images, please check yours and let me know of the results.
Thanks, John.

dcnicholls · #2 26-12-2006, 02:58 PM

Yes, mine too is showing signs of scouring. It has worn about 1/3rd the way through the plastic. Bad design.

A possible solution: lever off the thin steel sliding cover from an old 3.5" floppy disk, cut an L-shaped piece out of it (the steel sliding cover) to size (need a Dremel grinder or something similar - the steel is tough), and use it as a shield for the plastic - glue into place on the existing piece(s) of the azimuth brake with superglue. See diagram below showing where to cut.

A variant: I found an old 720K Memorex floppy that used a black plastic sliding cover, and I've just cut a piece to size and glued it into place. Seems to work but time will tell.

A plastic piece will continue to wear, so will need replacing, whereas a steel piece will wear the alloy azimuth 'wheel'.

DN

spacezebra (Petra) · #3 26-12-2006, 05:12 PM

Hi all

At this stage my alt brake is all in one piece, scope purchased in March 06 - I appreciate the advice.

I will check my brake before I take it out later.

Cheers Petra

Harb · #4 26-12-2006, 06:59 PM

Just be very careful what you replace it with......
It really needs to be softer than the Alluminium hub, or you will do major damage to the hub.
I would be looking along the lines of something nylon.
Or maybe the genuine part has been modded by now, and if not, they can't be that expensive to replace.
I would hate anyone to loose that smooth motion of the LB by scouring the smooth hub...

cheers
John

Harb · #5 26-12-2006, 08:31 PM

**

dcnicholls · #6 26-12-2006, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harb

...
Or maybe the genuine part has been modded by now, and if not, they can't be that expensive to replace.

My LB is only a few months old, so I think it's the current part that's the problem.

Quote:

I would hate anyone to loose that smooth motion of the LB by scouring the smooth hub...

Using an L-shaped plastic shim would avoid any problems. It will wear away, not the hub.

astronut (John) · #7 26-12-2006, 10:22 PM

Thanks everyone for the response. This problem is like the brake material that was used initially, it was made out of plastic and it scoured the alt bearing severly. Don Whiteman's (Bintel) fix was to change it over to teflon, it works just as well as the plastic but it doesn't damage the bearing.
The same sort of thinking has to go into solving this problem.
I have contacted Guan Sheng in Taiwan, their response was to try and sort it out with your local dealer. If you don't have any success they will step in to help you fix it.
Until a permanent fix is available I would recommend that you ask your dealer to order 3 or 4 of these pieces to get you through. They shouldn't cost very much.
PLEASE CONTINUE TO MONITOR YOUR SCOPE FOR WEAR.
Thanks, John.
P.S. I will post more news after I have spoken to Bintel tomorrow.

astronut (John) · #8 01-01-2007, 11:31 AM

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

To all Lb owners, here's the mod I made to the brake material on the rocker box.
Firstly from what I've been told ALL LB's are going to eventually suffer from this, apart from replacing the part, the better solution is to get rid of the inner part that has broken off.
Round off the end where the broken part connected, glue the smaller nipple into the side board and presto!! the brake works again and the problem will not surface again.

spacezebra (Petra) · #9 01-01-2007, 07:42 PM

Hi John

Mine has not broken yet - and if I understand you correctly you glue the part of the assembly that sits inside the box, what do you do with the section that sits under the bearing?

Let me know if I have not understood.

Cheers Petra

astronut (John) · #10 02-01-2007, 01:19 PM

Petra and other owners,
here is the finished product on the scope.

It still fits in snugly, so gluing it in is not neccessary.

jayscheuerle · #11 12-01-2007, 03:30 AM

Mine's wearing down as well and scouring my aluminum hub! The alt brake pad did the same thing. I sanded down the aluminum burrs, followed by steel wool and then polishing compound and a buffer wheel on my dremel, but there are serious GOUGES in there that can't be fixed. I'm going to cut the brake like John did, put a softer brake pad in (teflon rod perhaps), and then hopefully just rotate the hub 180 degrees once I'm sure all is fixed.

What a pain... - j

astronut (John) · #12 12-01-2007, 03:54 PM

Hi Petra,
It was great putting a voice to the person!!!

I hope these images convey what I meant.
If not let me know and I will see if I can confuse you further.

astronut (John) · #13 12-01-2007, 03:57 PM

Another one.......

spacezebra (Petra) · #14 12-01-2007, 04:27 PM

Hi John

Many thanks. I agree - great to put a voice to a person. I fully understand what you have done now. Since we have talked I am looking at avoiding the velco option with cam buckles and will let you know how that goes. Not sure if pulling out and putting in the travel scope case - will damage the velco.

Again - many thanks for the phone call, all your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Cheers Petra