Problem: Clicking and ‘twang’ noise, pulling full extent

[NathanS 8]

When pulling the yoke to its fullest extent, the as you release it, my unit developed a loud click followed by a spring ‘twang’ noise.

I could repeat this every time, as long as i was moderately ‘firm’ with the yoke.

 

I’d just unmounted it from the clamp and remounted it, bolted directly in place. So i naturally thought i must have put more than the recommended 10mm of bolt thread through and damaged something. Thinking this was self inflicted, I decided to open the case and have a look.

Good news: Nothing to do with my bolts. This looks like just a coincidence, maybe.

There are four points in the corners of the base where springs are fastened. A hex screw holds them in place (nb slightly larger than the small hex-key supplied).

Tightening the affected one fixed the click and the twang. Problem solved!

 

@tutmeister ...

It turns out all of them could be tightened just a bit more (1/4 turn), and one of them (not the problem one) I would call loose - a whole turn.

The problem peg visibly moved a hairs width when the click was heard - i can PM vids if you want to see any more of the problem.

 

[tutmeister 719]

Hi Nathan

Thanks for the update, this is a known symptom (to us) if the bolts are not fully tightened and I thought it had been solved by checking the tightness of the spring anchor bolts. So either yours wasn't checked properly or they have come loose during use. Either is possible I suppose. We track any issues reported and make design changes if needed to correct for these things so thank you for letting us know.

Nobody else has reported this symptom so hopefully it was just missed. I actually started worrying about this so changed to using thread lock on these. If it does it again then please let me know so we can do something about it.

Obviously it shouldn't anyway but these are still early production items so I suppose there will be some teething problems.

Thanks for your understanding.

Chris

 

[NathanS 8]

Knowing threadlock is the solution, if it happens to me again I'll know what to do.  It did seem suspicious they tightened easily without that threadlock resistance!

 

[orchestra_nl 976]

Hi Nathan (or Chris)
My yoke has developed a similar problem. There is no loud 'twang', but the shaft has developed a lot of play, and I can hear the shaft move inside the housing.It might be caused by one ore more loose bolts.

Can you tell me what type of screws are used on the housing so I can take the cover off and have a look inside mine?

[tutmeister 719]

 

2 hours ago, orchestra_nl said:

Hi Nathan (or Chris)
My yoke has developed a similar problem. There is no loud 'twang', but the shaft has developed a lot of play, and I can hear the shaft move inside the housing.It might be caused by one ore more loose bolts.

Can you tell me what type of screws are used on the housing so I can take the cover off and have a look inside mine?

The case lid is fixed with with M5 hex bolts that use a 2.5mm allen key. Coincidentally this is the same size as the allen key you use to attach the yoke to the shaft. Can you contact us via enquiries@fulcrumsim.com and we can try and resolve this. I'd like to know what is moving when you say 'play'.

Chris