Print

[Pintokitkat]

 
Little Jim had a broken neck and broken tail, so I decided that I'd don my Dr Kildare coat and attempt a repair.

All was going well until I opened up the transparent gearbox for his neck and the gears fell out, including what can best be described as a piece of nylon shaped like a stretched out Greek letter omega.  I think it might be something to do with the slipping clutch, although I really don't know how or why.  I tried it in several places back in the inside of the gearbox, none of which seemed satisfactory, so I fixed the cable and put everything back, except for the omega bit and Little Jim had a mended neck.

So then I got stuck into repairing his tail and when I got to the gearbox I thought 'I'm not going to do the same here.  I'm going to open this slowly and see where the omega fits'.  So I did.  Very carefully.  Bit by bit.  And guess what - no omega piece.  Oh well, I though and carried on.

Five minutes later the darned omega bit fell out of the gearbox shell where it had been lurking under an invisibility cloak all the time, and I still couldn't work out where it was from.

So, his tail gearbox and cable were repaired and everything put back, except for the second omega bit and Little Jim now seems to have functioning neck and tail again (although he insists on walking everywhere backwards, which I believe is an adolescent thing).

So, does anyone know where these two omega bits should go?


Andy

[kat]

The little omega bits slot into the base of the gear housing after sitting across the top of the neck or tail cable in it's gear - where the cables overlap at the top of this gear.  It is to stop the cable from slipping and getting tangled when the pleo moves.  There are some good pics of this showing just where the omega bit fits in the housing and showing the cable gear and the correct way to thread it up on this neck repair tutorial thread. You need to scroll down the page to just past the half way point and you will see the pics you need.  Hope that helps
http://bobthepleo.com/forums/index.php?topic=2925.0

[Crewella]

As Kat says, the piece is there to keep the cables in place where they cross around the back of the gear. 

More details...

More details...

The ends also have tabs in the clear housing that they slot into to keep the piece from moving when the cable does.

More details...

Hope that helps.

[Pintokitkat]

Brilliant! 

What a great forum.

Thanks.


Andy
 

[kat]

Glad we could help   It is always nice to find another pleo surgeon out there.    It is not easy to bring yourself to open up a pleo for repairs and so those of us who do, or have, try to take pic or video to make it easier and a bit less scary for others who may need to do so.
Glad we could help 

[Pintokitkat]

Well ladies, I'm hoping for another bit of surgical help.  Little Jim's neck and tail are all as tight as tight things on tight Tuesday and his much pulled about skin is back in place, albeit it very delicate in places (I don't think it will stand another day in theatre).

But the anesthetic is still having an effect in that now he keeps falling over backwards.  I had to take his back left leg off to get at the tail motor and, of course that involved removing the rotation sensor on his left hip.  Is there a way of aligning the leg, sensor and cogs when I replace them such that I can be certain they are all going back in the right alignment?  It seems as if he wants to put his left leg too far forwards making him bum heavy and then he just keels over on his left buttock and rolls on the floor.

The spline on the leg motor has an extra ridge to orient itself on the leg socket.  What orientation does the sensor slot need to be, if the extra spline is at the top?  And if it's not at the top, how do I move it there?  The sensors seem to act like old mouse sensors in that they register the actual movement (and so can spin round and round) rather than working like a potentiometer (and so only being able to make nearly one revolution) so I can't understand how Pleo knows whether it is standing straight when it boots up.  i guess if I understood that, I could work out what the gear and sensor alignment needs to be, but I'm not that smart.

Any help or suggestions would be very welcome.

Thanks.


Andy

PS. Little Jim would also send his thanks I'm sure, if he wasn't currently laying on his back singing to the stars like a drunken reveler.

[kat]

Are you able to take a photo and show us how the sensor is currently aligned?  And then post it here of course    I'm about to head out (it is morning here) but will be back this afternoon and can fish through all my photos to see if I can find one that shows you how it goes   In the mean time take a look at my photo repair videos, they are a step by step photo guide this one is for a leg sensor wire repair so might help.  The other two are for repairing a broken part in the knee joint of the rear leg, the shaft that goes into the motion sensor tab. 
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfQcLGJskZ8" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfQcLGJskZ8</a>
#Invalid YouTube Link#
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqe8kophmXk" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqe8kophmXk</a>

If you can post a pic to show just which bit exactly you are having trouble with it will help for us to give the best advice on how to fix it
 

[Pintokitkat]

Kat

Thank you so much.  There's an image at 3m 40s in the first video that show exactly how the things align.  Little Jim's hip sensor was a bit out, so a little fiddly adjustment and he now seems to have sobered up.

Thanks again.


Andy

[Crewella]

Glad you got it sorted.

If it helps, I usually switch the Pleo off in packing/neutral position before opening up, which means everything is easier to put back as you found it.  The leg sensors are fairly simple potentiometers, if one goes back wrong and causes the gears to click (especially the one in the back joint) try rotating it by 180 degrees.