MJBorley
New member
I have an Aries No 4 (Stainless and Bronze Model Aries) which has a crack in one of the castings. The crack is in the circular collar that sits behind the middle bevel gear (see photo - damn - I thought I could include a photo but I can't - I will email a photo to anyone who is kind enough to offer to help out). The collar has 4 rods sticking out of it, spaced at 90 degrees to each other (you can see 3 of these rods in the picture). The crack is 1.5 mm wide and is where one of the bolts that retains the collar is located (arrowed in the photo). The crack has actually spilt the threaded hole for the bolt and opened it up.
I don't know what the rods do but I suspect they may be shafts to locate small bevel gears inside the casting. I am concerned that the cracked collar may mean internal bearings are not being held in the right position relative to each other and there is excessive play in the system which could lead to premature wear or even sudden failure. Apart from this crack the unit appears to be in good condition and I would not like to think it is going to fail due to neglect on my part.
My questions are:
a) Am I right in thinking the crack is affecting the bearings or internal operation of gears, and therefore needs to be repaired? If the answer is “no”, what does the collar do and why does it have the 4 rods sticking out of it?
b) How do I remove the middle bevel gear and the 90 degree elbow that sits behind it so I can get to the cracked casting and remove it? I have removed the 2 large bolts that hold the 90 degree elbow to the bevel gear and although that now allows these 2 items to rotate relative to each other there is no sign of them coming apart from the main assembly.
Assuming the casting does require repairing my plan would be to have a stainless steel collar made up to slide over the casting to make it resume its original dimension. Given where the crack is (coming off the threaded hole) I don't think a braised or soldered repair would have the required strength.
I have spoken to Helen at www.ariesvane.com and although she was very friendly she was unable to provide any help in the form of diagrams and she confirmed that no spares are available for this component.
Any help will be gratefully received!
Kind regards,
Mark
I don't know what the rods do but I suspect they may be shafts to locate small bevel gears inside the casting. I am concerned that the cracked collar may mean internal bearings are not being held in the right position relative to each other and there is excessive play in the system which could lead to premature wear or even sudden failure. Apart from this crack the unit appears to be in good condition and I would not like to think it is going to fail due to neglect on my part.
My questions are:
a) Am I right in thinking the crack is affecting the bearings or internal operation of gears, and therefore needs to be repaired? If the answer is “no”, what does the collar do and why does it have the 4 rods sticking out of it?
b) How do I remove the middle bevel gear and the 90 degree elbow that sits behind it so I can get to the cracked casting and remove it? I have removed the 2 large bolts that hold the 90 degree elbow to the bevel gear and although that now allows these 2 items to rotate relative to each other there is no sign of them coming apart from the main assembly.
Assuming the casting does require repairing my plan would be to have a stainless steel collar made up to slide over the casting to make it resume its original dimension. Given where the crack is (coming off the threaded hole) I don't think a braised or soldered repair would have the required strength.
I have spoken to Helen at www.ariesvane.com and although she was very friendly she was unable to provide any help in the form of diagrams and she confirmed that no spares are available for this component.
Any help will be gratefully received!
Kind regards,
Mark
