Too many CD mechanisms have cracked plastic, split gears and warped guides as a result of plastic. Tape deck mechanisms suffer structural failures due to plastics. The Nak Dragon being one of them. The list would be long and include almost every brand name.
-Chris
-Chris
A number of older HP test equipment have bad ABS -- the mechanism they used to affix panel meters was a "kind of" ABS tensioner -- these are all failing in my shop.
Chris -- ever encounter a Pioneer LaserDisc player which works when outside its wooden box, but fails when inside? I think that the box just tightens up a bit when the humidity falls pinching the mechanism!
Then it was a crap design IMHO. The motor shouldn't have enough torque to strip the gears, no matter what they are made of.
Speaking of plastic gears, GM used nylon gears in their headlight motors. Eventually the metal worm drive will strip the plastic gear. So someone started making brass replacements. Now the motor burns out instead...
Headlight motors are relatively easy to change.....anyone remember the nylon tooth TIMING CHAIN sprockets in the GM V8's in the late 60 and early 70's? I had to change several. My 1973 GMC van with a 350 inch V8 would routinely backfire through the carb, then developed a rude sounding rattle on deceleration, so an autopsy was ordered before the patient died and I needed a valve job due them being kissed by the pistons.
The nylon gear had worn badly enough that the chain was slapping into the timing cover. The real issue was a bad exhaust lobe on the cam causing the backfire. Since I needed a new cam.....I threw a few other parts at the job too and the rusty old van would smoke a few "muscle cars" of the day......But 1976 Vettes and 82 Trans Am's aren't real fast.
Wow! No, I had never heard of that. It's bad enough when they use a plastic pulley on a water pump LOL
Since I moved the PV panels' inverter to my garage, it had been functioning without reporting issues, but three days ago, the same 'earthfault' error message appeared again. This error is considered critical and prevents the inverter from producing any ac output.
Because the inverter is controlled and monitored by a microcontroller, the first thing I did was isolate it from its input DC and the output to allow the microcontroller to reboot and reset any errors. But this did not happen, and the same error was displayed again on reconnection. This meant, the cause was a real earth leakage. So, I inspected the inside of the inverter for suspicious connections that may cause a DC source leak to earth. I found a DC voltage connector that was corroded with green copper corrosion. The inverter had two connectors for the +ve and another two for the -ve terminal. So, I removed the unused terminals that were corroded or unnecessary. After this removal, the inverter started to operate without errors upon switch on.
It is a pleasure seeing the inverter starting up at the first glimpse of sunlight and it was a pain seeing it stay idle with an error that prevented it from doing its duty.
Because the inverter is controlled and monitored by a microcontroller, the first thing I did was isolate it from its input DC and the output to allow the microcontroller to reboot and reset any errors. But this did not happen, and the same error was displayed again on reconnection. This meant, the cause was a real earth leakage. So, I inspected the inside of the inverter for suspicious connections that may cause a DC source leak to earth. I found a DC voltage connector that was corroded with green copper corrosion. The inverter had two connectors for the +ve and another two for the -ve terminal. So, I removed the unused terminals that were corroded or unnecessary. After this removal, the inverter started to operate without errors upon switch on.
It is a pleasure seeing the inverter starting up at the first glimpse of sunlight and it was a pain seeing it stay idle with an error that prevented it from doing its duty.
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Have a manual transmission in my 2009 Corolla xrs, and othe clutch has a long throw, such that my knee hits the steering wheel at the top of the travel. I looked around and found that a Scion TC with the same engine uses a slave cylinder with a smaller diameter bore.
This allowed me take advantage of a shorter throw, re-pitching everything from the point where the pedal hits the floor. No more knee hitting the steering wheel.
I remember the first time I saw a plastic timing gear on a car engine, was an early 70s Mercury Capri v6.
You would think that they would learn and stop doing that again and again, especially when there are nearly always steel replacements made by the same companies (smelling, TRW)that produced the oem parts.
Also cleaned out the drain in our dishwasher.
This allowed me take advantage of a shorter throw, re-pitching everything from the point where the pedal hits the floor. No more knee hitting the steering wheel.
I remember the first time I saw a plastic timing gear on a car engine, was an early 70s Mercury Capri v6.
You would think that they would learn and stop doing that again and again, especially when there are nearly always steel replacements made by the same companies (smelling, TRW)that produced the oem parts.
Also cleaned out the drain in our dishwasher.
Hi Jack,
-Chris
No, I didn't do video equipment. But the wood case could pinch things as you say, or the heat could cause the metal parts to expand causing any number of issues.
-Chris
Oh, you had to remind me!
I posted before, about the evening I was in the basement at my workbench, and the 1970 Kitchenaid dishwasher up in the kitchen decided to pop its drain hose during the last drain cycle....
Over the years, the spring clamp compressed the hose to the point of becoming loose...
The rear of the basement looked like a rainforrest, water coming through the floorboards above...
Some Permatex gasket sealer on the pump outlet, a new clamp, added a 2nd clamp for good measure.... all's well again.
But what a mess to clean up!
YouTube
The one in my van was one of the early white ones, as were all of those I replaced. ......with TRW cast iron. The van was an easy fix that came with some performance upgrades. That engine outlived the rust prone van and lived a second life powering a 68 Camaro.....quickly.
The worst one was in a 69 Pontiac LeMans. GM 307 engine I believe. The gear has slowly disentegrated, but not badly enough to kill the engine. The car developed a rod knock which got progressively worse until it was obviously ready to come through the block one day, so we yanked the engine and performed autopsy.
The pieces of nylon had worked their way through the oil filter and into the oil system. Enough of them had accumulated in the oil passage to the middle main bearing to block most of the oil flow into the crankshaft destroying several rod bearings. Major engine rebuild time, all because of a piece of plastic. We had to take each hydraulic lifter apart too since white flakes wound up inside most of them.
Back around 1991, I replaced the factory "silent" timing chain with a TRW all-metal chain and timing gears, in my beloved first car, a '74 Plymouth Satellite Custom with an anaemic 318 (but very robust) cubic inch V8.
I bought that car for $400 USD a year earlier; I was a broke college student living on a scholarship, and $400 was about as much as I could scrape together after several months of living on the cheapest food I could find.
When I replaced it, the chain hadn't failed yet, but an ignition timing-light showed lots of timing scatter, and overhauling the distributor didn't fix it; it was the camshaft itself that was causing the erratic timing, because there was too much slop in the timing chain, from worn plastic teeth on the timing chain drive sprockets.
I think the Chrysler version was better than the GM one - my memory is that the sprockets were metal, with metal teeth, but the teeth were clad with a layer of plastic to lower timing chain noise. The plastic coating had broken off some of the teeth, but the metal underneath were still driving the chain, only sloppily.
-Gnobuddy
Plastic/nylon gears in automotive engines?
Absolutely rediculous of an idea!
Disgusting!
Considering the torque involved, and the heat of an engine, the smart thing to do is use ALL METAL gears.
Absolutely rediculous of an idea!
Disgusting!
Considering the torque involved, and the heat of an engine, the smart thing to do is use ALL METAL gears.
Interesting. Every GM and Chrysler engine I worked on was all metal everywhere. We used roller chains on an engine builds. I did see a fiber gear (cam shaft) in a Ford 351 in a Torino once. When the engines came out for things like the Pinto and some cheap GMs, there was plastic (or something). I didn't pay any attention simply because there is no replacement for displacement. 🙂
-Chris
-Chris
Last year, my completely stock daily-driver 2009 Hyundai Sonata with a 5-speed automatic transmission and 4-cylinder, 2.4 litre, 175 horsepower engine, blew the wheels off a gargantuan, loudly-thumping black Chevy truck with "454 SS" chrome badges and the usual young male driver with a bad attitude.
We were both stopped at a red light, me in the right lane, which was blocked off by orange cones a half-block ahead. When the car ahead of me pulled through the intersection and merged left as I stopped for the yellow light, and I saw the lane was closed, I looked across at the driver on my left, and the sneer on the truck-driver's face told me he wasn't going to let me politely merge into "his" lane, as most nice Canadians would do in the circumstances. No, he was planning to "demonstrate his might", as Sheryl Crow eloquently put it in "Leaving Las Vegas", and run me into the cones, and force me to stop.
Honestly, I didn't think my family commuter car was going to beat his monster-sized V8 in a short drag race, but I had nothing to lose, so, when the light turned green, I floored it. And watched somewhat bemusedly as my Sonata flew past his enormous thundering monster of a vehicle, letting me merge gently into his lane, far ahead of him, long before I got to the orange cones. 🙂
I should say that I don't usually drive like that - I wised up while still in my typical " young male jackass with more testosterone than restraint" twenties. But after many years of polite restrainment while hundreds of rude drivers in giant pickups cut me off, a little switch flipped in my brain for a second, so I decided to do what I did. As it happened, I pulled ahead of him so quickly that I barely even broke the speed limit, and had plenty of time to merge safely and gently into the other lane, well ahead of the loudly-thumping black monstrosity in the rearview mirror.
454 cubic inches is 7.44 litres. That Chevy had twice as many cylinders as my well-worn family sedan, and more than three times the engine displacement! 😀
And let's not forget Formula One race cars, which now have a tiny 1.6 litre V6 engine, and routinely have 0-60 mph times well under two seconds.
In reality, there are several replacements for displacement: really good airflow design in intake manifolds and exhaust systems, an engine built with a higher maximum RPM limit, precise air/fuel ratio control, numerous properly spaced gear ratios in a quick-shifting transmission, and, of course, forced induction. Those Formula One cars have all of the above.
-Gnobuddy
Well, everything considered equal.
I had a Chev 327, now 331 CID that thumped out a real 450 BHP back in 1978. It beat motorcycles, much to the shock of the bike riders and me. My biggest mistake was to take the highway, limited slip rear end out and install a 4:11 posi. I could get rubber at all speeds before the change, so the last thing needed was a 4:11 positraction rear end.
I would love to rebuild that car today. It was a large 1967 Olds Cutlass that was just about perfect for that drive train. It had a trailing arm rear suspension, so it hooked extremely well all on its own. It turned mid 12's in the 1/4 with street tires, full interior and street gas (and some +104 Boost). The only car that scared me to open up all the way. It would shift from 1st to 2nd at 70 mph and start laying rubber all over again from both sides. It was an insane car for an 18 year old.
Can you imagine what a rat done to the same level would do? Cubes, done up equally and geared properly, the most cubes win. My red line was 8K ~ 10K, I can't remember, but it screamed. Double valve springs and valve guides on the heads eliminated float.
The guy in the truck probably floored it. Being light in the tail he just annoyed everyone behind him. I bet he was frustrated! Properly driven, the truck would have put up a stiffer fight, but you probably had him in the short run. Enough pavement and he would have passed you making a lot of noise. I bet it was fun for you!
-Chris
I had a Chev 327, now 331 CID that thumped out a real 450 BHP back in 1978. It beat motorcycles, much to the shock of the bike riders and me. My biggest mistake was to take the highway, limited slip rear end out and install a 4:11 posi. I could get rubber at all speeds before the change, so the last thing needed was a 4:11 positraction rear end.
I would love to rebuild that car today. It was a large 1967 Olds Cutlass that was just about perfect for that drive train. It had a trailing arm rear suspension, so it hooked extremely well all on its own. It turned mid 12's in the 1/4 with street tires, full interior and street gas (and some +104 Boost). The only car that scared me to open up all the way. It would shift from 1st to 2nd at 70 mph and start laying rubber all over again from both sides. It was an insane car for an 18 year old.
Can you imagine what a rat done to the same level would do? Cubes, done up equally and geared properly, the most cubes win. My red line was 8K ~ 10K, I can't remember, but it screamed. Double valve springs and valve guides on the heads eliminated float.
The guy in the truck probably floored it. Being light in the tail he just annoyed everyone behind him. I bet he was frustrated! Properly driven, the truck would have put up a stiffer fight, but you probably had him in the short run. Enough pavement and he would have passed you making a lot of noise. I bet it was fun for you!
-Chris
I love old mechanical stuff. This is a 1970's watch I recently brought back to life for a relative; a 21st birthday present back then...a rather nerve wracking experience being one of the smallest movements made. Manipulating the hairspring coils to concentricity was the most difficult manual task I've ever undertaken. The watch is running in that photo - you can see the blur. That's my index finger.
On the timing gear issue, I remember there was a 1970's Holden (Australian GM) which had a fibre timing gear that was a weak point as they regularly stripped. I'm not sure if there was a US version of that engine.
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I spent several years in the mid 80's dusting V8 cars with my heavily boosted and modified Chrysler 2.2L (135 CID) engine. Boost can make up for displacement.
The older versions from the mid 80's back were "all show and no go." the Turbo Dodge just left them in their own tire smoke.
The Camaro that received the 350 out of my van had a built 327 when I got it. Whoever built it put in "too much" cam, so that the power was anemic below 3500 RPM but came on quickly above that, but valve float came in around 6000. I also had a 411, but non-posi, so ONE rear wheel would break loose when you hit about 50 MPH in second gear (4 spd stick).
The automotive world has changed. Imagine driving a car into a toll both, stopping to pay the toll, seeing the guy to the left leaving the toll booth, and flooring it to beat him to the merge point......suddenly a PRIUS passes both of you from the right!
Meanwhile most of the readers here don't know what a rat or a posi is, go I'll go away now.
The older versions from the mid 80's back were "all show and no go." the Turbo Dodge just left them in their own tire smoke.
The Camaro that received the 350 out of my van had a built 327 when I got it. Whoever built it put in "too much" cam, so that the power was anemic below 3500 RPM but came on quickly above that, but valve float came in around 6000. I also had a 411, but non-posi, so ONE rear wheel would break loose when you hit about 50 MPH in second gear (4 spd stick).
The automotive world has changed. Imagine driving a car into a toll both, stopping to pay the toll, seeing the guy to the left leaving the toll booth, and flooring it to beat him to the merge point......suddenly a PRIUS passes both of you from the right!
Meanwhile most of the readers here don't know what a rat or a posi is, go I'll go away now.
It's the little furry thing that makes you scream and spill your designer mocha-venti-triple-latte on the cafe floor while you drop your $1200 iPhone and frantically scramble onto a designer no-animal-cruelty-made-from-lovingly-grown-organic-bamboo chair, no? 😀
-Gnobuddy