Morse control unit

[richardabeattie]

Just occasionally, and contrary to some comments I've seen on this forum, PBO prints something not covered before - something useful and intelligible. My unit always seems stiff and it's awkward to find neutral so I shall have a go at stripping it as shown.

 

[Tranona]

be aware though that the detail of the operating mechanism varies according to manufacturer although the principles are the same. For example the Vetus version is nothing like the one in the article.

 

[brman]

Just occasionally, and contrary to some comments I've seen on this forum, PBO prints something not covered before - something useful and intelligible. My unit always seems stiff and it's awkward to find neutral so I shall have a go at stripping it as shown.

I know someone who has the same problem and found very little info on it online. Sounds like I need to go and buy the latest PBO?

 

[fisherman]

Morse controls are the bane of my life. The old MB twin, with nylon bushes in ally casings would last a whole two months before starting to seize up. I stripped it down in the end and eased all the clearances after which it lasted many years without attention, the outer casing bubbled and disintegrated at last, finally being replaced with a clone unit from Watamota at £89 inc vat. My outside unit is a home made one with stainless levers turning S/S tube housings on alkathene bushes, water lubricated, twenty four years no probs. When they get stiff is when you fracture the cables.

 

[Yngmar]

The Lewmar/Whitlock/Teleflex (not sure who actually makes them, but they all seem the same design) look extremely difficult to service due to the crimped shaft holding everything together in the center. I don't see how that can be neatly reassembled, or even taken apart (including destructive methods). They seem to be intentionally designed to be unrepairable so that you have to buy a ridiculously overpriced replacement, something that greatly annoys me.

 

[richardabeattie]

Your photos show a unit that's quite a bit different from the one in the PBO article.

 

[scottie]

Early Morse controls i.e. Pre1990? Were stripable but spares were never that easy to obtain I only got some by being allowed to help myself to production parts . You could in theory order parts but!
The later controls along with TX boxes were riveted and not really repairable.
Also as time went on some safety related items i.e. VP steering yoke were built that repair was not an option
Fishermans controls were actually designed by one of Mr Noah's colleagues I believe but that's not gospel

 

[richardabeattie]

The article explains how to deal with the rivets.

 

[Tranona]

The article explains how to deal with the rivets.

Which is OK if you have the type of construction which uses rivets, but as you see here, many don't.

 

[richardabeattie]

My point was that here was a useful article covering the Morse unit it featured clearly and in depth. It did not offer to cover every other version and was useless as a guide to making toast on board.

 

[vyv_cox]

When my unit began to give trouble in selecting neutral I stripped it and found the cause to be that the shaft is made of diecast zinc. There was originally a small cam that located the ball detents but this had worn away, partly because the original grease was a very heavy grade that did not provide a lot of lubrication. I tried building the cam up with epoxy but this didn't last long. It might be possible to do the opposite, deepen the detent holes, but I was cruising far from home at the time. In the end I bought a new unit but added lots of grease before putting it into service.

 

[Tranona]

My point was that here was a useful article covering the Morse unit it featured clearly and in depth. It did not offer to cover every other version and was useless as a guide to making toast on board.

But Morse is a generic name for the mechanism and is used by a variety of manufacturers. The generic features are the rocking mechanism and the attachments to take the Morse cables, but even then detail design differs.

The point I am trying to make is that it is misleading to use the generic term in relation to that article as the focus was on taking apart the casing to get at the mechanism and this is peculiar to this particular version.

 

[richardabeattie]

OK - you win. I was deceived by the sub title of the article which called the thing a Morse Control Unit.

 

[fisherman]

FYI this is what i bought, it is good so far. It takes up to four cables.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Twin-lever-Single-Engine-Gearbox-control-head-SB-TWIN/263020845434