Norman_E
Well-Known Member
I posted this thread http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?320734-Masthead-unit-stripdown-and-bearing-change when I stripped my VDO wind masthead unit to replace the bearings. At that time I put up the spare unit, which had bearings which were a bit rough but still worked. On my recent trip the anemometer stopped working in light winds so I put back the original and brought the spare home to change the bearings.
The job went wrong from the start, firstly when I opened it up and extracted the PCB I found that the plastic part holding the coil was chewed up and had been glued in, and in getting it out I damaged the coil. That was no huge problem as I was able to wind a new coil, soldering the new wire to the ends of the old one. Worse followed, as the bearing were hard to remove and I found that the housing was damaged. Again not an insuperable problem as I have the tools to machine a new bearing housing from acetal bar, and fit it after cutting back the remains of the three plastic ribs that held the old bearings.
The thing that may result in a scrapped unit is that two of the wires soldered to the PCB have broken off, leaving remnants in the holes in the board. An attempt to remove them using desoldering wick has lifted a piece of the copper from the PCB. I am not sure if my soldering skills are good enough to reconnect it properly.
The job went wrong from the start, firstly when I opened it up and extracted the PCB I found that the plastic part holding the coil was chewed up and had been glued in, and in getting it out I damaged the coil. That was no huge problem as I was able to wind a new coil, soldering the new wire to the ends of the old one. Worse followed, as the bearing were hard to remove and I found that the housing was damaged. Again not an insuperable problem as I have the tools to machine a new bearing housing from acetal bar, and fit it after cutting back the remains of the three plastic ribs that held the old bearings.
The thing that may result in a scrapped unit is that two of the wires soldered to the PCB have broken off, leaving remnants in the holes in the board. An attempt to remove them using desoldering wick has lifted a piece of the copper from the PCB. I am not sure if my soldering skills are good enough to reconnect it properly.