Advice Needed Geotrack HV24 Actuator - Siezed Up !

[blademedia]

I manged to remove the armature and will give it a clean. When I pulled it out of the sleeve, there were two spring loaded contacts that make a contact with the communicator bar, one of these popped out on its slider and it looks a tricky job to manipulate it back in there. Does the armature sleeve disconnect from the cog housing? There are two small screw heads at the bottom of the armature sleeve, if I can get the sleeve off I hope it will make it easier to get it all back together.


Thx

Hi D, the spring loaded contacts are the bushes, all the unit is pressed on the rod, a special tool is need to remove it, but no need too,

The parts you need to be interested in is communicator bar and bushes the things like magnets on springs, photo of the bushes might help/how much is left of them ?

The small screw should help you refit it, there's a few different types its hard to say without having hands on

@blademedia,

Sorry for the dumb question but which parts are the bushes, are they the 2 x semi circular shaped magnetic parts that wrap around the armature?

Thx

As above D.

 

[Trust]

The motor problem are those 2 loose magnets , they should be fixed glued inside the round housing .
Now they stick to the rotor and are blocking the rotation .

 

[blademedia]

The motor problem are those 2 loose magnets , they should be fixed glued inside the round housing .
Now they stick to the rotor and are blocking the rotation .

Trust is correct, if they don't have screws to hold them in place, some older type had small screws to hold them ? the bushes look like this

 

[moonbase]

Trust is correct, if they don't have screws to hold them in place, some older type had small screws to hold them ? the bushes look like this
View attachment 105258

@blademedia

Yes, that is what I have, it see,s to be the same as the picture except I have not removed the armature sleeve. How is the armature sleeve removed to get access to the bushes?


Thx

 

[blademedia]

Its should just pull ? give it a tap with a hammer, if not you will have to access it from the other side by removing the cover, be careful if so a few cogs in there.

There's a few different types as mentioned D.

 

[moonbase]

Its should just pull ? give it a tap with a hammer, if not you will have to access it from the other side by removing the cover, be careful if so a few cogs in there.

There's a few different types as mentioned D.

@blademedia

I have already removed the other side cover and found the cogs, some of them fell off the spindles but I took a photo of their locations. I will give it a tap with a hammer and see how I get on.

Thx

 

[blademedia]

@blademedia

I have already removed the other side cover and found the cogs, some of them fell off the spindles but I took a photo of their locations. I will give it a tap with a hammer and see how I get on.

Thx

Tap with hammer it is then , you will be able to hold the bushes back with two small screwdriver while you get them back in place its a bit fiddle but I'm sure you will sort it.

 

[jeallen01]

Unless I am very mistaken, I think the "bushes" to which moonbase referred are actually the carbon BRUSHES through which current is fed to the armature to make the motor drive the actuator, and thus they must be able to slide inwards under pressure from the springs as they wear, and so NOT secured in place - but just to be free to move as required (as per most - at least older - portable electric tools like my Bosch drill/driver).

 

[blademedia]

Unless I am very mistaken, I think the "bushes" to which moonbase referred are actually the carbon BRUSHES through which current is fed to the armature to make the motor drive the actuator, and thus they must be able to slide inwards under pressure from the springs as they wear, and so NOT secured in place - but just to be free to move as required (as per most - at least older - portable electric tools like my Bosch drill/driver).

What's a R amongst friends , yes your correct they are brushes sorry my mistake

 

[Terryl]

An old mechanics trick to reinstall those brushes, is to use some sewing thread to hold them back from the armature and in place to get the thing back together right, then once everything is back in place a quick snip with a scissors and your back in business.

Also check to see that they are not worn out, if they have less then 3 mm left then look for some new ones.

And those brushes in the photo look to be all rusted up,(and the connecting bolt for the wires) they don't work too good all rusted up like that.

 

[moonbase]

...And those brushes in the photo look to be all rusted up,(and the connecting bolt for the wires) they don't work too good all rusted up like that.

The photo with the rusty spring brushes was kindly uploaded by "blademedia" to show me what the brushes looked like, it was not from the Geotrack actuator I have taken apart. I am off to the shed with a hammer now to see what can be done, back later with an update...

Rgds

 

[blademedia]

I am off to the shed with a hammer now to see what can be done, back later with an update...

Lol, it still might not work after all this, it could be the windings in the armature, but at least you've learnt what to try if you ever get another, god luck with the hammer

 

[moonbase]

Im back, after the hammer job

It worked, I have the armature sleeve free from the cog casing to get a better look at things. The brushes have approximately 6mm left on them before the start of the small hole used to connect the wire to the brush. From the feedback provided by "Terryl" above, it seems that 6mm on each brush is OK and they do not need replacing.

I noticed there seems to be some white crystalline deposit, both in the cog head and the armature sleeve, possibly salt? As I do not know the provenance of the actuator I dont know if it was on an installation near to the coast. I will clean it all up and then have a go at getting it back together.

Edit:
I just noticed there seems to be a hardened glue residue in the armature sleeve where the two semi circular magnets were. Do I need to reglue the magnets in place or can I clean off the hardened glue residue and place the armature and magnets back in the sleeve without glue?


Rgds

 

[moonbase]

Update:

I have cleaned the armature brushes and the communicator with some 600 grade wet/dry paper and given the semi circular magnets a clean with some solvent. I managed to get all the parts back together into the armature sleeve and used the cotton thread trick to hold back the spring loaded brushes while placing the armature into the housing.

It all fits together OK but I have not glued the semi circular magnets to the inside of the armature sleeve. If the glue is mandatory to hold the magnets in place then I can dismantle it again and apply some epoxy glue or anything up to the job.

At the moment, I have not placed all the cogs back in position in the motor housing. If I wire up the two armature wires to a 12V power source or a 12v transformer with +/- outputs should the armature worm shaft spin round? It would be a quick test before I go about re-installing the cogs in the motor head. Or, do I need to completely reassemble to motor before applying power?


Thx

 

[blademedia]

The motor will work without the cogs, if there's no screws to hold magnets in place you need to glue them in place before you test it as trust mentioned. the one I have here the magnets are 15mm down from the opposite end of the drive spline the moves the cogs.

 

[moonbase]

The motor will work without the cogs, if there's no screws to hold magnets in place you need to glue them in place before you test it as trust mentioned. the one I have here the magnets are 15mm down from the opposite end of the drive spline the moves the cogs.

@blademedia

OK, I need to glue them in place, they were not bonded to the armature sleeve when I dismantled the motor. I think the glue must have hardened over time and cracked. Will a two mix epoxy glue such as Araldite be OK, or will a superglue straight out of the tube be OK?

I noted the position of the magnets before I took the armature sleeve off, they were flush with the top of the armature sides that come into contact with the magnets. I will draw a pencil line to get the height in the sleeve before taking them out again.

Could the fact that the magnets were not bonded to the sides of the sleeve have been the reason why the motor would not work or would it have rotated but with a grinding noise?

Last but not least, I need to replace the reed switch just in case its faulty. I think I have a spare one somewhere but cant find my soldering iron ... another trip to Screwfix coming up.


Thx

 

[moonbase]

The motor problem are those 2 loose magnets , they should be fixed glued inside the round housing .
Now they stick to the rotor and are blocking the rotation .

@Trust1

Many thanks W. It's the next job on my list.

I still have to loosen the worm drive in the actuator arm sleeve, if I cannot get that loose its ready for the tip. However, one good thing is that I have got a little more understanding of how an actuator works and how to take one apart and reassemble it.


Rgds

 

[blademedia]

Will a two mix epoxy glue such as Araldite be OK

Yes that would be better that super glue

Could the fact that the magnets were not bonded to the sides of the sleeve have been the reason why the motor would not work or would it have rotated but with a grinding noise?

Yes that will be the main cause in this case,

 

[Terryl]

The photo with the rusty spring brushes was kindly uploaded by "blademedia" to show me what the brushes looked like, it was not from the Geotrack actuator I have taken apart. I am off to the shed with a hammer now to see what can be done, back later with an update...

Rgds

Ahhhh OK on the rusty thing.....And remember, if it doesn't move with the first hammer, use a bigger one.

 

[moonbase]

Update 2:

The motor works !!

I glued the two semi circular magnets inside the armature sleeve with Araldyte Rapid epoxy glue and left it ovenight to set. After reassembling and testing with a v-box, the motor is spinning OK, plus, the original reed switch that I though may have blown is working OK.

The next part is to loosen the actuator arm in the sleeve, I need to find a trough or narrow cylinder that is long enough the get the actuator arm and sleeve in for a long soak with some penetrating/releasing mixture. I was going to use acetone/ATF in a 50:50 mix but I think it will probably remove the paint from the actuator sleeve and arm and leave things even more clogged up.

Many thanks to all who contributed.


Rgds