Branch's SSG Build

[Branch Gordon]

Mind in the gutter haha.

Thank you Lubriderm!!!

John K.

[Branch Gordon]

Thanks Tom! I looked up a vid on how to pop off the metal ring that keeps the bearings in. Hopefully it's the same process for mine. I'll be working on it tonight.

Yes tri flow is my preffered lubricant. I remove the dust seals and clean out the grease, then spray liberally. balance using pennies or a screw put in opposite the heavy spot.


Tom C

[Branch Gordon]

So I popped off the rubber cover to expose the bearings. They were protected by a thin plastic casing which had to be removed as well. It is not reusable....but I don't think it's essential.

However, there is no way that I can see to get these bearings out of here. The gap is too small. How did you degrease yours? I can probably shove a paper towel down in there and rotate it around...but I'm not sure it's going to be as effective as pulling them out.

Here's a photo of what I'm looking at.

[Branch Gordon]

Thanks Bud for taking the time to write all that. Very helpful...lots of info I wasn't aware of. Sounds like an art in and of itself...

Branch, Soldering can be very difficult for someone who is new. Soldering is no different than brazing or welding aluminum, stainless, or plain steel. The major key is cleanliness. Not you the materials. They have to be clean every time or the oxides that are usually present get in the way of the process. Soldering is the hardest of all the joining processes because we do not have enough heat to burn thru the oxide layer. So we either have to sand to clean or abrade the materials clean or let an acid do the work for us. They make acid core solder which will burn off the oxides on the copper but unless you clean the soldered joint after soldering the acid can be destructive to the surrounding areas. There is too much acid in the acid core solder for this application.

What you really want to do is get yourself some soldering paste. You can obtain it at any hardware store. Put a very small amount on the wire prior to soldering and the hot iron plus the presence of the soldering paste will allow the surface to become clean and solder at the same time. I always tin my wires before soldering or joining to a component.....why?......because the individual wire leads have ovide on them and you cannot get it clean without a lot of heat and some paste. Heat will destroy some components so do the tinning part ahead of time. Joining componets wants to be done with the smallest amount of heat needed to get the job done.

When tinning wires I always strip the wire insulation back and the dip the ends into the soldering paste. Then I put the wire to the iron and add a little solder to allow the tinning to take place.

The size of your iron plays a huge part in the size of the component you can solder. The larger the wire the larger the iron needs to be. As the soldering takes place the heat is drawn from the copper iron and transferred into the work. If the heat of the iron runs too cold during this process then the soldering will not take place. You need to keep this in mind when soldering. I always have a small iron and a large one running when I work.

The type of solder also plays a huge role. You definately do not want the lead free type! You want the 60/40 rosin core type for electrical work. You want the lead in there! It makes the solder flow freely.

When resoldering over and over the solder becomes very grainy and hard to work with. Adding a little rosin core solder helps with this. These are just the basics and much practice is needed to become very proficient. Keep trying! Tinning ahead is a very important part. Hope this helps.

Bud

[Brian McNece]

Those are just like the ones in my SSG wheel (Previously a wheelchair wheel) just use a degreaser/cleaner, I used paint thinner and then dried them with a heat gun to be sure to get the thinner out. Put some light oil in them and you're good to go.
Brian

So I popped off the rubber cover to expose the bearings. They were protected by a thin plastic casing which had to be removed as well. It is not reusable....but I don't think it's essential.

However, there is no way that I can see to get these bearings out of here. The gap is too small. How did you degrease yours? I can probably shove a paper towel down in there and rotate it around...but I'm not sure it's going to be as effective as pulling them out.

Here's a photo of what I'm looking at.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1058[/ATTACH]

[Tom C]

So I popped off the rubber cover to expose the bearings. They were protected by a thin plastic casing which had to be removed as well. It is not reusable....but I don't think it's essential.

However, there is no way that I can see to get these bearings out of here. The gap is too small. How did you degrease yours? I can probably shove a paper towel down in there and rotate it around...but I'm not sure it's going to be as effective as pulling them out.

Here's a photo of what I'm looking at.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1058[/ATTACH]

just to make sure you did NOT remove the plastic cage that spaces the bearings, correct? if you did you need to pull out the entire bearing races and all. the bearing will not function if the balls are not equidistant, so yes it is absolutely essential.
Tom C

[Branch Gordon]

That sucks. Yeah I removed the plastic cage.

Discouraging....

just to make sure you did NOT remove the plastic cage that spaces the bearings, correct? if you did you need to pull out the entire bearing races and all. the bearing will not function if the balls are not equidistant, so yes it is absolutely essential.
Tom C

[Branch Gordon]

I'm just going to take it to a bike shop and see if they will remove the bearings...and replace them with new ones....and grease them with Tri-Flow.

Makes me want to cuss.

[Branch Gordon]

I've been away from the forum for awhile..but I bought the new book and am wanting to jump back into this.

Last time I was on, I had messed up my bike wheel bearings by removing the plastic cage that separates the bearings. I took it to a bike shop, bought new bearings, and had them degrease them completely. So when I brought my bike wheel home, I had bearings that were bone dry...planning to lubricate with Tri-Flow.

I have done that, sealed the bearings back up, but they still have a lot of friction. I was getting around 3:30 minutes of free spin time before I switched over to these new bearings with different lube. Now I'm getting only 1:30 minutes of free spin. I can feel the friction if I spin the wheel and hold the axle in my hands...but I'm not sure where it's coming from or why.

Pictures attached. I'm hoping Tom C can chime in as he recommended the Skyway wheel and hopefully has experience with this configuration already.



Cheers!

Branch

[Branch Gordon]

And one more photo...

[John_Koorn]

Hi Branch,

Welcome back I think you need to loosen the nuts that butt up against the bearings. You need to have about 1mm of slop so the bearings are not restricted in their movement and the balls can run freely in the races.

Hope this helps...

John K.

[Tom C]

Hi Branch,

Welcome back I think you need to loosen the nuts that butt up against the bearings. You need to have about 1mm of slop so the bearings are not restricted in their movement and the balls can run freely in the races.

Hope this helps...

John K.

what John K said. especially if there is no spacer on the axle in between the 2 bearings. overtightening the shaft will pull the inner races together and it wont run in the center of the race.

Tom C

[Forrest]

Hi Branch,

I noticed something when I looked at the video again.......Your coil is sort of loose. Take those taper head screws out and put some pan heads in their place and lock the coil flange down tight. Pan heads have a flat surface under the head....not tapered. Ref my last post of getting more from your SG.

Get this thing running and let it run. Let it run for several hundred hours. then you will achieve this 8+ minute free wheel time.

Every one!!!!!! When you have a new wheel there are a lot of micro burrs and bumps form the manufacturing process to make the bearings and hubs. One has to have a breaking time to wear thru these burrs and bumps. Lets face it bike wheels are not made with a lot of quality! As long as they go around and spin sort of free the manufactures are meeting their objectives.

just like a car........it needs to have a break in time to get freed up. So at the end of the day don't sweat it.......just run it!

Get the coil rigid and run it!

Hope this helps!

Bud

[Branch Gordon]

Thanks for the tips John and Tom. When I loosen those nuts, it appears as though the wheel is just spinning around on the axle, without
making the bearings turn. However when I have the nuts tightened, it forces the core of these bearings to be engaged and rotate.

If I am going to have the nuts loose, why have them on at all? Or am I wrong in my understanding of how the bearings work?

On my previous bike wheel I did what you are suggesting and it made a big difference, but that one had standard bearings, not sealed.

what John K said. especially if there is no spacer on the axle in between the 2 bearings. overtightening the shaft will pull the inner races together and it wont run in the center of the race.

Tom C

[Branch Gordon]

Thanks Bud! I am going to work on the loose coil for sure. Is the free spin time supposed to be measured with the coil under the wheel?

I have been measuring the spin with no coil close to the magnets.

Hi Branch,

I noticed something when I looked at the video again.......Your coil is sort of loose. Take those taper head screws out and put some pan heads in their place and lock the coil flange down tight. Pan heads have a flat surface under the head....not tapered. Ref my last post of getting more from your SG.

Get this thing running and let it run. Let it run for several hundred hours. then you will achieve this 8+ minute free wheel time.

Every one!!!!!! When you have a new wheel there are a lot of micro burrs and bumps form the manufacturing process to make the bearings and hubs. One has to have a breaking time to wear thru these burrs and bumps. Lets face it bike wheels are not made with a lot of quality! As long as they go around and spin sort of free the manufactures are meeting their objectives.

just like a car........it needs to have a break in time to get freed up. So at the end of the day don't sweat it.......just run it!

Get the coil rigid and run it!

Hope this helps!

Bud