Anyone in the South Wales area know how to fix an ACE yoke?

[notgotaclue]

Hi,
I am pulling my hair out, and I didnt have much to begin with.
My ACE yoke is not playing nicely and rather than throw it through the nearest window and jump up and down on its lifeless carcass I am after a longshot.
Can anyone fix it for me.
I can bring it to you if it is a reasonable distance from Newport, you will put it on the operating table and sprinkle fairy dust to make it work and I will give you £100 in used non-sequential notes for your trouble. I will also give you a hug (no funny business) and return home full of the joys of spring.
Now what is wrong I hear you cry.
Well, the aileron is not working. I suspected it was the pot so purchased a new one and fitted it, I also put in new wiring with no luck.
It may even be the bodnar card which all the wires fit into, maybe I should buy a new one of them??????
This is like having a steering wheel down my pants - it is driving me nuts.
Allan.

Flying a lovely 737 with a joystick is WRONG... and to top it all the power steering on my car is not working.... I want my mam.

[Geremy Britton]

What exactly is causing it not to work, is the pot being detected when you try to calibrate it?
Is it making erratic movements?
Is it only detecting one side?
Is the pitch pot ok?

Answering these questions should give everyone a better idea of what the problem is. If i can give you some advice on things to try, you can keep your dough, you dont need to drive anywhere with your stricken car, and everyones happy ;)

Looking forward to getting more details.

have you tried emailing ACE about this?
Cheers

[notgotaclue]

Hi,
The pot is being detected but it is very jerky and erratic. It is mainly detecting the left hand side, but it will jump all over the place when I try to calibrate it.
The pitch pot is working perfectly.
If I take the yoke apart and turn the pot manually, without the sprockets it will work ok unless I turn it too far, then it will snap to the right hand side.
I have emailed ACE about 935 times but I would have more luck contacting Lord Lucan.
Allab

[iwik]

Hi,
Enable raw data in windows calibrate and turn the pot from one end to the other, what are the values?.
Is the pot a continuous one or does it have a stop?.
This imfo will tell me more about how the pot is working.The value should start at 0 and go to 255.
You could also calibrate the axis thru only the half of the pot, does it work ok now.

Your pot may be going to far and mucking up the calibration.
Let us know your results.
Les

[notgotaclue]

Your pot may be going to far and mucking up the calibration.
Let us know your results.
Les

Hi,
I think this is what is happening.
When I removed the sprocket from the pot and turned the pot by hand it would rotate left and right as it should, but if I turned it too far it would reset itself. The pot is continuous.
I think it is a mechanical problem because once I put the sprocket back on the pot and use it as intended with the yoke handle, sometimes the teeth will miss resulting in the pot not turning but the yoke turning, the teeth would then catch again and this would mess up the calibration.
Now I have no idea how to sort this out. I would buy new slightly larger sprockets but dont know which ones I need. Any other ideas?
Allan.

[iwik]

Allan,
Well at least now you are making some progress. Ace yokes are supposed to be top quality so a mechanical rebuild seems
rather extreme to me. Can you take a video of the Yoke in motion showing us what is happening. If not take a pic at the
stage that the pot starts to unmesh. There are many mechanical guru's here(im not one) and im sure will pinpoint your
problem. Dont give up as there are always solutions but pics help a lot.
Look forward to seeing something.
Les

[notgotaclue]

I spent another hour trying to sort out the controls, the ailerons now work, I think........
I moved the cogs slightly further back which helped to stop them slipping, it is still not right and now with all the messing about I have done, the buttons dont work. I probably pulled out a wire somewhere when I took the yoke off.
This is staring to pi55 me off big style and I will give it another day and if I still cant get it going I will sell it on the classified ads as not working, no doubt someone with more patience will get it working for next to no cost.
Anyone want to make an offer on it????.....

[notgotaclue]

I "think" I have got it working.
It seems that the grub screw that holds the sprocket tight was not holding it firmly enough, which meant that the sprocket would slip and mess up the calibration. I changed the grub screw and I spent a hour hand flying tonight and it worked fine. I still have no buttons working, but that should be a simple case of sorting out a few wires, something which can wait until my head clears.....
No doubt I will be back on here tomorrow saying it has all gone wrong again...:sad:
Allan.

[iwik]

Allan,
Good news, yes something like that can have you head scratching.
Keep at it you will win in the end.
Les