Here's a tip that
might help out someone trying to salvage a spinner from an
old or discarded control panel, that was suffering from a
common ailment: Dead optics.
Here I'll show you how
to use an optic board from Oscar Controls to bring that
beast back to life!
First,
remove the old optic board (two screws, red arrows) and
discard. Then remove the c clip from the bottom of the
spinner shaft (yellow arrow), and the two hex nuts halfway
up the shaft (not shown). Careful with that c clip,
that thing can fly a mile if you're not careful. If
you have access to a buffer, this is a good time to polish
up the spinner shaft, and remove any gunk and crap.
Now the fun begins.
Using an optical board
from
Oscar Controls (currently $7.50), we have to match
it up to the mounting position on the tempest spinner base.
On the left, you can see the two spots where I will mount
the card (silver arrows). One spot needs to be
drilled. On the right is the Oscar card, with the two
holes I will use, one of which will be drilled. Be
sure to only drill through the board, not through any of the
traces (the metal lines). You can kind of see how the
two pieces will line up and come together. On to the
drill press!
Although
not needed, a drill press makes jobs like this sooo much
easier. You can still make mistakes, but it's less
likely to ruin a part by a slip of the drill. On the
left I drill a spot on the base, and on the right I carefully
drill my hole in the optic board. Now wasn't that
painless?
The
fit is perfect, and the parts line up well. Now I have
to reinstall the shaft and wheel, and see about lining them
up properly.
I
installed the top c clip, held the wheel in place, and slid
the shaft through the holes. The set screws (silver
arrow) I set just lightly, then installed the spinner knob.
I attached the bottom c clip, then set the height of the
wheel by eye, and tightened up the screws. I've used
the DOT replica spinner knob on this, since it makes a nice
combo. A little powdered graphite, and this spinner is
good to go. Note: There is a machined aluminum Tempest
replica knob available in the Oscar Store, that really makes
this a perfect restoration!
I wired
it up quickly to a panel just to give it a run, and it
worked well with the settings that worked for the Oscar Pro.
No problems! That's all there is to it. Was it
useful? You tell me! :)
