September 23, 2016

R5's list of repairs, not just a Bad Motivator!

R5 is pretty dependable, I know that everything is reliable, won't break and will run/work every time.

He still get's a regular once over, nut's checked, battery's charged, wire connections checked etc every few weeks, even though he doesn't get out much lol. And of course, he gets all this done pre an event.

So I was a bit lost when:

  • The dome rotation would 'catch' on something now and then??
  • The smoke system wouldn't produce any smoke, tho the pump was working??
  • Sound 3 (sad sound) stopped working, but the other sounds were OK??
So once home, I started to look into the above issues.

The first one was one of the three dome mounting bolts, had unscrewed and dropped down, so catching on the rotation rings mounting screws. Phew! A drop of thread lock and this was sorted.

As for the sound issue.....?
It worked once on testing, but then failed to repeat, So this will require me taking out the whole sound board to be able to test with my PC. And due to limited time due to family and attending next event in a weeks time, I didn't want to take it all out to then not be able to fix, to then have to re-fit it again. Just a waste of time!

And finally, the smoke.....or lack of it lol.
The pump's fixing (sticky pad) had come loose, handy, so I disconnected the power, and removed the system. On testing it, the pump was OK, just no smoke. On removing the tube from the e-cig, I found that the positive contact wire had come loose from it's solder point. Therefore, no connection = no smoke.

Lucky for me tho I had a new unit already made up (made last year). I wanted to make an easy to work on unit, for removing etc. So I mounted the pump & e-cig onto a new mini board and screwed this to the inside frame. This way there will be less strain on the e-cig contacts, due to bending when filling it up each time.
bad motivator
New smoke system unit
bad motivator
New smoke system unit installed
 All fixed and ready for his next trip out,
Feel the Force Day, Peterborough, October 1st 2016

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