Well, after 4 years of faithful operation, my LWFF started to develop
a dodgy downshifter the other day. Last night as I played the FIA GT
mod, it became unusable where even heavy handed downshifting failed to
work. : ( I removed the shifter hoping it was just a dirty contact,
but discoved that the switch seems to be built into a small PCB. I
went to Jens' site but couldn't find anything on switches. Are the
switches fixable on this PCB or do I need to replace it? Any help
appreciated...
--
Damien Smith
[email hidden]
ICQ: 77028579
F1 2001 rank: +35.325
"Damien Smith" wrote...
> Well, after 4 years of faithful operation, my LWFF started
> to develop a dodgy downshifter the other day. <snip>
My LWFF developed the exact same problem. I tried various things, but in the
end I ended up cutting away the pad for the switch with a jigsaw and glued a
standard 12mm tact switch in it's place. Initially I soldered the contacts
directly to what was left of the connections of the original pad & cup
switch, but that wasn't reliable enough, so now I have wires running to
other soldering points on the same tracks and this has held so far (since
spring last year). You might need to file down the actuator on the downshift
side a bit for the swith to release properly once the wheel is assembled
again.
Drop me a mail and I'll try doing a scan of the repair to give you an idea.
Jan.
=---
"Pay attention when I'm talking to you boy!" -Foghorn Leghorn.
> My LWFF developed the exact same problem. I tried various things, but inthe
> end I ended up cutting away the pad for the switch with a jigsaw and glueda
> standard 12mm tact switch in it's place. Initially I soldered the contacts
> directly to what was left of the connections of the original pad & cup
> switch, but that wasn't reliable enough, so now I have wires running to
> other soldering points on the same tracks and this has held so far (since
> spring last year). You might need to file down the actuator on thedownshift
> side a bit for the swith to release properly once the wheel is assembled
> again.
>
> Drop me a mail and I'll try doing a scan of the repair to give you anidea.
Well, I simply pulled out the cup (couldn't believe it was held by sticky
tape) and cleaned the contacts and that fixed it....for now. Once you start
cleaning contacts though, it's something you have to do every couple of
months. Do you know what I can use to stop the contacts from oxidising?
--
Damien Smith
[email hidden]
ICQ: 77028579
F1 2001 rank: +33.541
"Damien Smith" wrote...
> > <snip>
> Well, I simply pulled out the cup (couldn't believe it was held
> by sticky tape) and cleaned the contacts and that fixed it....for
> now. Once you start cleaning contacts though, it's something you
> have to do every couple of months. Do you know what I can use to
> stop the contacts from oxidising?
Lucky you... the cup split on mine making for a very bouncy contact (ever
unintentionally downshifted two gears in quick succession in GPL? ;-)).
Anyhow, I don't think there's anything you can use on the contacts which
wouldn't compromise the adhesion of the tape, so IMO you're stuck with
cleaning them every so often.
Jan.
=---
"Pay attention when I'm talking to you boy!" -Foghorn Leghorn.
Damien,
sorry for not replying earlier (got 1st time father last saturday :-)
Long time ago I had a shifter problem with my wheel. It turned out to be a
broken diaphragm (this bubble).
I went for a quick 'n dirty repair by simply soldering the crack (after taking
off the bubble).
What I didn't expect to last, works since few years now :-)
What also could happen:
the bubble slips aside (happened to me few times due to not-so-suitable tape)
the hub-nut goes loose.
I didn't refer much to the shifter on my website, since MikeT is offering
PCB-overhauls with *real* switches.
If you are handy with tools and soldering iron, you could get and fix those
switchedd yourself. After the treatment you have to shorten the plunger, which
operates the switch.
HTH
JensSchumi
On 5 Feb 2002 20:47:42 -0800, [email hidden] (Damien Smith) wrote:
---------------------------------------------
LWFF Ball Bearing conversion at:
http://jensschumi.tripod.com/
GPLRank: -14.82
Monsters of GPL: sub 95
Quoted text (8 lines)
>Well, after 4 years of faithful operation, my LWFF started to develop >a dodgy downshifter the other day. Last night as I played the FIA GT >mod, it became unusable where even heavy handed downshifting failed to >work. : ( I removed the shifter hoping it was just a dirty contact, >but discoved that the switch seems to be built into a small PCB. I >went to Jens' site but couldn't find anything on switches. Are the >switches fixable on this PCB or do I need to replace it? Any help >appreciated...I think it's important not to let the solderings take all the mechanical stress,
but flooding a bit of hotglue under the switch as well (love that stuff :-)
JensSchumi
On Wed, 6 Feb 2002 11:39:04 +0100, "Jan Verschueren"
<[email hidden]> wrote:
>My LWFF developed the exact same problem. I tried various things, but in the
>end I ended up cutting away the pad for the switch with a jigsaw and glued a
>standard 12mm tact switch in it's place. Initially I soldered the contacts
>directly to what was left of the connections of the original pad & cup
>switch, but that wasn't reliable enough, so now I have wires running to<snip>
---------------------------------------------
LWFF Ball Bearing conversion at:
http://jensschumi.tripod.com/
GPLRank: -14.82
Monsters of GPL: sub 95
"JS" wrote...
> I think it's important not to let the solderings take all
> the mechanical stress, but flooding a bit of hotglue under
> the switch as well (love that stuff :-)
Jens... notice the word "glued". Hotglue is exactly what I did (nobody
should be without one of those cheapo glue guns). But it wasn't a reliable
repair (perhaps I'm heavy handed on the shifter paddles) until I connected
the switch through the more flexible means of wire.
Jan.
=---
"Pay attention when I'm talking to you boy!" -Foghorn Leghorn.
"JS" wrote...
> <snip> got 1st time father last saturday :-)
Congrats on the kid!!
Jan.
=---
"Pay attention when I'm talking to you boy!" -Foghorn Leghorn.
