a note on trav-a-dial repairs

thanks to the good offices of one of the NG denizens, I acquired a couple of sick trav-a-dials. both were sticky. hee is a quick summary of an overhaul procedure:

1.submerge up to dial in rubbing alcohol, move wheel occasionally, wait a while see if it gets fixed (this will work if what is wrong is sticky oil that was the problem with one of them)

1. remove crystal - I used an xacto knife to pry the crystal up from it's bezel - others have suggested a suction cup
2. submerge in rubbing alcohol, wait a while and the dial will separate from teh glue (it worked for me)
3. use diagonal cutters to gently lift the pointer off of the shaft and remove dial. remove knob using allen wrench.
4. remove 6 flathead screws (2 under dial), open the thing up
5. clean carefully - spray brake cleaner is helpful here
6. remove all swarf from the gear teeth. do it again, you missed some, and again, you still missed some - inspect with jeweler's loup - oops, still miessed some, repeat again
7. to reassemble, rotate nylon gear on top of the steel wheel counterclockwise until the hole in the gear lines up with a hole in the gear below. put a 1 inch piece of stiff wire in the hole and put this aside.
8. oil the 6 ball bearings with clock oil. put a little oil on the gears. inspect again for swarf - and remove what you rind.

10 reassemble, with the stiff wire still in place - the wire goes through a hole that is pre-drilled in the top face of the unit

1. as you put the back (bottom) half in place, carefully align the shafts until it snaps into place
2. reinstall 6 flathead screws (assembling the under dial stuff of course). Oops, dont' forget the brass spring pieces that go on either side of the drive wheel to press the seal against the surface the wleel runs on.

13 remove the stiff wire by pulling it straight out.

1. test for smoothness. if ti's rough, you missed some swarf, go back to step 6. if it's smooth,

15 reinstall dial, use a weak glue to hold it in place, put pointer back onto shaft, press on lightly

1. retest, if all is well, put the crystal back in place