Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, 10:20 p.m. — Brief update with m 1979 Vibroplex Original DeLuxe. Last night while reassembling I thought about going ahead and prepping the key to go on the air. The dot spring was a little “sprung” so I decided to remove and and tweak it a bit.
Easier said than done, of course.
The set screw that secures the dot spring assembly to the weight rod was frozen — it wasn’t going to move no matter what I did. I tried every phillips screwdriver in my possession, and no go. Next, I tried the -grab-the-head-with-pliers routine. No go. The final choice in this step is to go all-out — vice grips.
For about 1/4 of a second I thought I had broken the screw loose. Hooray! Then it twisted clean off. GRRRH!
Break out the Dremel, reapply carefully, and finally coaxed it off the weight rod.
I’ve emailed Vibroplex with my revised parts order, which now includes the dot spring as well as the finger and thumb pieces. I’m also ordering a couple of red “jewels” as I have a couple of keys that need them.
By the time you figure the aggravation, broken Dremel cut-off wheels and the cost of the parts, I’m going to be lucky if my “bargain” is a “break-even” project. Well, sometimes you win and sometimes your the windshield … or something like that. Where did I set my beer??
73 es HV GD WEEK de KY4Z SK … dit dit ….