Wednesday 11/09/2005

Grant, Robert, Ed 

I left Grant's shop today with both the 'supply' & 'take up' clutch
assemblies completed, safely warped up and ready to be reinstalled. Grant
came over to the shop to lend is usual expertise, suggested I use some black
tarry sticky stuff - I think he gets it some place in L.A. near La Brea - to
lubricate the shafts to assist in sliding on the clutches. (You will have to
ask Grant for the name) a little bit goes a very long way .. It ends up dry
and does help things slide. We discussed how to make the final adjustments
so as to 'lock' the individual clutches tight. I 'pined' the back half of
the reel hub onto the shaft as this is a 'fixed' point on the assembly and
then moved the individual clutch units unit they we snug against the hub and
all the play had been taken out of the between the clutch units. The final
adjustments will be made after reinstallation.

I am very please with the results as the individual units can be slide along
the shaft as needed. Also the units turn very smoothly without any sounds
(unlike the old ones). I have cleaned up the latch's used to lock & unlock
tape reels to the hubs. I will take them down to be re-chromed tomorrow.

After we have physically reinstalled them, we will start from the beginning
with the mechanical and electrical adjustments again. If everything is OK,
the .plan is to removed the 8 other assemblies from the remaining 4 drives
and rebuild them. This will also make it easier to physically clean the
drives and it will save a great deal of total time in the restoration. 

I must say they look brand new, bright and shiny, straight out of the box.
You would never know they are over 40 years old.

This project has been like beauty & the beast but this time it was the brain
& the brawn I claim the brawn.   

Allen j Palmer