The Broken JR
Recently I was in need for a 36Mhz radio, so I put the call out for anyone who wanted to sell JR 36Mhz radio and was contacted by a fellow flier who had a broken JR X2610 that I might be interested. The sweetener on this little deal is that was free - all I had to do was pickup the tab on the freight. I was very grateful for this, and was a bit apprehensive as to what I might find when I got my hands on the radio. All I knew is that it had a broken gimbal.
You can see from the picture above that there is obviously a problem. When I opened the radio up it was clear that the gimbal was indeed broken. It was actually the hub on one side of the gimbal - sort of the axle if you will.
What was needed was to make a new hub for the the gimbal to pivot on. So after some searching through the workshop, and a few head scratching moments, I got started.
The original setup consisted of a hub that spins freely inside a bush. My problem was, I did not have the original bush, and I did not have the original broken hub - so I had to fabricate one. I found that a length of carbon rod that I had was the perfect size to replace the hub. All that was needed was to drill the gimbal out and glue the new carbon rod in place. After a few dry fits, I cut the carbon rod down to the right length and glued it in place.
Next step was to find a new Barbra Bush. What I found was the inside of a servo horn. I trimmed off the arm and dry fit - virtually perfect! The scary moment coming up here is that I was going to have to glue the hub in place, and the only way I could do this was with the fully assembled gimbal in place. What it meant was, if I managed to get CA in the wrong spot, it would seize the entire mechanism, and the job would be over. After some deep breaths and a very steady hand, I glued it in. I kept the gimbal moving in the hope that if I did get some CA in where it shouldn't be, it hopefully would not get a chance to seize the mechanism.
The last job was to screw down the retaining plate. My new bush was a little smaller than the original, so I glued a small piece of plastic from a control surface horn to take up the slack.
As I fly Mode 2, I swapped over the the springs and ratchet, and from the outside, you would never know of the repair job on the inside. And as long as I don't treat it too hard, it should hold up - I hope!!
A big thanks goes out to Clovus - THANKS MATE
Cheers
The Mongrel
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