To avoid any nasty crunching sounds as I was disrupting traffic on the main these past few days, I undid the three screws that secure the turntable module and levered it out and onto an open drawer. While it’s accessible, I will be making some improvements.
First of all, the lock has not worked properly ever since I raised the module a half millimetre to resolve another occasional derailment at the module joint. Apparently there was not a half millimetre of allowance in the locking mechanism, and after a sonorous thunk, the module was suddenly free to move, but the lock would no longer engage. This needed to be fixed.
Then the drive mechanism, which relied on a plastic cable in tube arrangement, has never had the positive feel I would have liked. Instead it was squishy and the turntable alternately lagged and sprang forward as the rod twisted and unwound. With the module out, I will replace the rod with a solid metal rod and a couple of universal joints.
At the roller end, which actually drives the turntable, I needed to lengthen the axle to engage with the new joint. Rather than scab a little more on, I elected to replace the axle, which broke the original roller. My skills and tools have improved in the nine years since I made the original, and replacing it with one turned from aluminum was straightforward.
The universal joints come with grub screws (1/16″ Allen key for future reference), and so, I filed a flat in the end of the new axle and attached the first joint. The resistance soldering unit made quick work of re-attaching the part of the locking mechanism that had broken.
Pembroke:87 