Removing rear motor panel on old SF-600
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 7:06 pm
I forgot that I did this 5 years ago, so I'll share what I did.
Newer SF-600's have a bolted on motor panel with a foam gasket, so it's an easily bolt off and on.
But old SF-600's have wood screws with the panel glued down with a strong silicon type sealer, that is seamanly unmovable.
The regular procedure from SF - this is what Bill Jones was told by Harrold Bettes from SF -, was that you cut a hole in the cabinet and work through there.
I had Bill's notes in my hand, and had marked out the hole, but I just didn't have the heart to cut it. I thought if I brute force it with a very large heavy duty screw puller, it might come off.
This is what I did
1 - Remove the rear reversing disk valve. I think all the old benches used silicon, but you can feel around the inside to make sure the meniscus is silicon.
2 - I got a strong piece of 4" x 2" wood about 24" long and drilled a hole in it. Can't remember the actual length so it might have been only 16", but whatever fits, with the longer the better.
3 - I passed it through the left rear motor blow hole - the holes for revering the motor flow - and lay it vertically flat against the inside of the motor panel so that the hole faced me.
4 - I slid a 1" diameter threaded rod through the hole and put a steel plate/washer and nut on the inside. I think I actually used a ¾" rod, but the bigger the better. You have to push the setup far left in the hole, so that you can get your hand in on the side as well.
5 - Next I got a 5ft length of 4" x 2" x 3/16" wall square tube with a hole drilled about a third of the way along, and passed that over the 1" rod so that the 5ft SHS spanned horizontally across the back of the entire bench.
6 - I packed the ends of the 5ft SHS where it rested on the cabinet, so that it rested on the thick step of the plywood cabinet, not the thin protrusions.
7 - I greased the threaded rod and put a nut and washer on the outside, and started screwing. I keep screwing, and screwing, and was about to give up because there was so much pressure, but I put my hand into the hole with a knife and started stabbing/prying the gap as a last ditch effort. Then I heard silicon tearing, so it was more screwing, then waiting until the silicon was quiet, and just repeating that slowly until one side was free.
8 - Swap everything to the other hole, and continue until the panel comes off.
The motor panel bows quite a bit but I didn't hear any wood cracking, so I continued. If the panel did snap I suppose it not hard to make another.
The panel did de-laminate on one edge, but if you are gluing it back down just remove the high spots.
You could convert it to bolts and foam gasket, which would require the damaged areas be routed down and repaired with wood strips.
It was lucky that I went with the puller because the electrical termination block on the 240 volt benches is mounted on the inside of the right side, and I would have cut it to pieces if I cut the hole in the side.
I think SF got so used to gluing the panel on their non ratiometric SF-110, that they continued it on all their benches not realising that ratiometric benches doesn't loose accuracy with a motor chamber leaks, just capacity.
Newer SF-600's have a bolted on motor panel with a foam gasket, so it's an easily bolt off and on.
But old SF-600's have wood screws with the panel glued down with a strong silicon type sealer, that is seamanly unmovable.
The regular procedure from SF - this is what Bill Jones was told by Harrold Bettes from SF -, was that you cut a hole in the cabinet and work through there.
I had Bill's notes in my hand, and had marked out the hole, but I just didn't have the heart to cut it. I thought if I brute force it with a very large heavy duty screw puller, it might come off.
This is what I did
1 - Remove the rear reversing disk valve. I think all the old benches used silicon, but you can feel around the inside to make sure the meniscus is silicon.
2 - I got a strong piece of 4" x 2" wood about 24" long and drilled a hole in it. Can't remember the actual length so it might have been only 16", but whatever fits, with the longer the better.
3 - I passed it through the left rear motor blow hole - the holes for revering the motor flow - and lay it vertically flat against the inside of the motor panel so that the hole faced me.
4 - I slid a 1" diameter threaded rod through the hole and put a steel plate/washer and nut on the inside. I think I actually used a ¾" rod, but the bigger the better. You have to push the setup far left in the hole, so that you can get your hand in on the side as well.
5 - Next I got a 5ft length of 4" x 2" x 3/16" wall square tube with a hole drilled about a third of the way along, and passed that over the 1" rod so that the 5ft SHS spanned horizontally across the back of the entire bench.
6 - I packed the ends of the 5ft SHS where it rested on the cabinet, so that it rested on the thick step of the plywood cabinet, not the thin protrusions.
7 - I greased the threaded rod and put a nut and washer on the outside, and started screwing. I keep screwing, and screwing, and was about to give up because there was so much pressure, but I put my hand into the hole with a knife and started stabbing/prying the gap as a last ditch effort. Then I heard silicon tearing, so it was more screwing, then waiting until the silicon was quiet, and just repeating that slowly until one side was free.
8 - Swap everything to the other hole, and continue until the panel comes off.
The motor panel bows quite a bit but I didn't hear any wood cracking, so I continued. If the panel did snap I suppose it not hard to make another.
The panel did de-laminate on one edge, but if you are gluing it back down just remove the high spots.
You could convert it to bolts and foam gasket, which would require the damaged areas be routed down and repaired with wood strips.
It was lucky that I went with the puller because the electrical termination block on the 240 volt benches is mounted on the inside of the right side, and I would have cut it to pieces if I cut the hole in the side.
I think SF got so used to gluing the panel on their non ratiometric SF-110, that they continued it on all their benches not realising that ratiometric benches doesn't loose accuracy with a motor chamber leaks, just capacity.
I have been lurking off-n-on over the years and I finally "rejoined" the other day, been meaning to for quite a while now. I have a few questions I will be asking soon, trying to do my due diligence researching before asking.