Hi All,
I need to replace the case on a Futaba S3003 servo that was damaged in a
crash. Can anyone point me to a procedure that describes how the gears
and pot are reassembled and aligned as part of this process?
Thanks,
John
In the FWIW column, I no longer repair servos. Except for throttle,
all my servos are the 1/4 scale variety and most run $90 or more
apiece. Even so, the cost of dumping an expensive giant because of a
questionable but repaired servo is a whole lot more than the "cheap
insurance" price of a new servo.
If you're _sure_ the electronics weren't damaged it's simple. If the
electronics were damaged don't bother.
If you just gotts to repair the thing, find another good servo (any
standard Futaba servo will do and will have the same gear layout as
the S3003; S48, S148, etc.). Use the known good servo as an example
of the gear layout.
The only alignment is the output gear which has a stop tab on the
underside. That tab needs to be centered between the case stops when
the pot is centered. Likewise, the output gear lower shaft must
engage the pot correctly.
Otherwise reassemble per the gear arrangement in the known good servo.
OTOH, the gear set only goes together one way that works, so plug and
play 'til you get it right. Just don't get the output gear and pot
misaligned, because if you apply a signal with the gear and pot
misaligned the output gear tries to drive past the stops and something
breaks.
To find the pot center point, reassemble the servo minus the output
gear. Apply a signal from a receiver and center the associated
transmitter stick. Manually (with a non-conducting screwdriver or
'twiddle stick') turn the pot which ever direction is needed to stop
the servo motor; that's the center point. The motor and gear train
should stop and stay stopped. Move the stick one way or the other and
the motor should run; move the stick the other direction and the motor
should run the opposite direction. Release the stick and the motor
should stop. That is, once you've got the pot centered. Holding the
stick in one direction or the other will make the motor run
continuously because the feedback signal from the pot is not changing.
Reinstall the output gear and re-test.
Be careful not to strip the threads in the new case (it's obvious when
the screws bottom out) and don't misplace any o-rings ( . . . can't
remember if the S3003 has o-rings or not . . . the 1/4 scale versions
have 'em . . . )
Servos go back together with very little force. If you find you're
having to use any appreciable force to get the case back together,
>>>something is out of position
John
Did you break just the top, or the whole case. If you broke the case, you
might have done some internal damage. Anyway, here's what I do:
CAREFULLY remove the top of the servo by first removing the screws and then,
pressing down the servo output shaft, working the cover up. This usually
keeps the servo gear train intact. With the now exposed servo oriented so
the output shaft is on your left, remove the gears one at a time, placing
them on a clean part of your workbench in two columns, one left and right,
in the order that they were removed. (Put the first gears removed farthest
away from you.)
Inspect each gear, you might want to pick up a small tube of Lubriplate.
Re-assemble in the same order, paying particular attention to the pin that
located the gear train on the right side. When everything is lined up, the
cover should fit down without any binding.
As far as the rest of the case goes, once the cover is removed, the bottom
cover should come off and everything can be removed out the bottom.
Good Luck
Bill
Thanks guys,
This was a brand new servo damaged on its first flight. The application
is the release mechanism for an R/C skydiver, so it's not too critical.
BTW, on the first jump attempt, the skydiver (mounted on top of the
wing) caused the jump plane to crash due to a blanked elevator which
drastically (!) reduced pitch control :(.
John
John Morley wrote:
Actually, the S48, 148 parts won't fit. The S3003 shares gears with
the S3004 and the Tower TS53. If the case top is damaged, just buy
the ball-bearing case update. You'll end up with a better servo at
little extra cost.
scroll down to
"Servo & TX alterations, calculators, clonepacs, make an ESC or winch, FAQ."
[under radios] where several sites have detailed colour pictures.
e.g.
formatting link
for a quick written fix visit one of the Hitec FAQ pages =
Then what did you mean by "(any standard Futaba servo will do and will
have the same gear layout as the S3003; S48, S148, etc.)"? That's how
I read it.
Jim - AMA 501383
[ . . . sigh . . . ]
_try_ to read the >entire paragraph< . . .
G'head. _try_.
I know your attention span is shorter than that of a gnat, but try to
make it through the _whole_ paragraph.
All the way through the last sentence.
Where it says "Use the known good servo as an example
of the gear layout."
Cheers,
Fred McClellan
the dash plumber at mindspring dot com
Roughly once a year I dump the twit filter. Most twits are gone by
then.
Some never seem to be able to deal with the written word, in this a
most decidedly written word medium.
No sooner do I have the twit filter purged than some new twit, or
some old twit who simply cannot learn, chimes in.
Bye, now . . .
Cheers,
Fred McClellan
the dash plumber at mindspring dot com
Lets see, Your advice to a guy who needs to put a servo back together is
for him to take another apart which is kinda-like the one he already
can't figure out. In taking it apart, he stands a chance of having the
gears on this one fall out just like before. You don't warn him that
when taking a servo apart that the gearshafts might stay with either the
servo top or the case. He now stands the chance of having two different
servos apart that he can't figure out. Now, who's the twit?
Jim - AMA 501383
Jim,
You observation is right. I have been watching this and wondering when he
would wake up and realize that even a ghod like him must give good
instructions. I guess it wouldn't be so bad if he was anywhere near as
competent with the English language as he swears to be. I am beginning to
suspect that the lofty know it all advice this bunch of crazies is getting
comes from a mr. perfect who has never done all the things he preachers, er
I mean lectures on.
As for you last question, you should already know the answer to that!
Jim Branaum
AMA 1428
Six_O'clock_High
Target snipped-for-privacy@Guns.com
Differing points of view never will have been the issue and you should
know that. Ditto for learning new or better ways to do things. Never
ever EVER said I knew the one and only way to do ANYTHING.
I have no problem with the expertise of most of the residents of my
twit filter; in fact many have more experience than I ever will have
had.
I do have a problem with their _attitudes_, which is why they get
dumped into never-never land.
Case in point : had the latest twit (e.g. the most recently re-added
twit) admitted he mis-read the subject post that would have been that.
No, he's got to haul out the 'tude. First time out he read it wrong,
second crack he takes at it, it's my fault for writing it wrong.
Go figger . . .
N'other jerk _starts off_ by allowing as how he doesn't know what it
is he's looking at on my lowly web site, but whatever it is it's a
"mess" and he's >got< two of 'em.
He's got two, can't recognize the one he's looking at, so it's a
"mess".
You tell me, izzat 'tude or what ?
Last go-around with said jerk had everything to do with him blaming me
for something someone else wrote; seems he's a bit short in the
literacy department. Worse, that jerk is _always_ baiting,
denigrating the efforts (or equipment) of other modelers, insulting
their _families_, etc. 'nuff of that crap.
Dunno 'bout you, but I'm not willing to waste time on 'tude toads.
I don't care if the toad plays kiss-and-makeup so he can finally snag
a moderator slot on a decidedly minor mailing list.
He's now a permanent resident of my bit bucket no matter what he
kisses.
Cheers,
Fred McClellan
the dash plumber at mindspring dot com
I would hope it tells the world that I am only willing to put up with
just so much harassment, and should some twit exceed my limit I have
every right to opt him out of my downloads.
Which you have now done.
Bye bye again, Kevie
Cheers,
Fred McClellan
the dash plumber at mindspring dot com
Good grief, Fred-
You had me baffled for a while, discoursing about twitdom with its
reigning icon in this forum. I feel better about your sanity now.
Abel
What it tells the world is that you are the type that MUST have the
last word. Why else would you announce to the whole world that you
are putting someone in your "twit" file? Just do it and save the
bandwidth!
Randy (Soon to be in your twit filter)
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