Has anyone fixed a

DPatton · June 28, 2018, 11:25:46 PM

Has anyone fixed a broken cable on their sawmills encoder cable pull? My cable has broken on my encoder cable pull and I want to attempt to repair the cable pull before spending a good chunk of change on a new encoder. If anyone has successfully done this I would love to hear your input on how to successfully make this repair.
I'm not sure how the cable broke but I believe it must have been from a long strip of stringy eastern red cedar bark that got caught up in my blade drive belts and went slapping around the belt and blade drive wheel while I was sawing this past Sunday.
I have attached the below photo of my encoder / cable pull for reference.

As you can see the cable was severed just a couple inches above the factory cable end eye. It has been suggested to me that it is possible to to open the reel case and thread the cable back out of the cases Rewind the reel spring tension and install a new cable eye on the end of the existing cable. If you have done this I would like to hear your suggestions or advise before I go opening this thing up.

DPatton · June 30, 2018, 10:11:35 AM

UPDATED:

Since I didn't get any responses on this post I figured I'm on my own with this encoder draw wire cable thingy. So with nothing to lose ;) (except for the last tiny remaining bit of my pride) I went ahead and disassembled it last evening.

Now I know why all you experienced guys didn't jump all over this post with a barrage of success stories about rebuilding these reels ;D.

I knew going into this thing that it would likely be fairly simple with the exception of containing that coiled spring that had to be in there to make the cable self retracting. Little did I know that that little spring coil was actually a forty foot anaconda that hadn't been fed in six weeks :D.

After carefully removing the screws holding the case together and while starting to open the actual case of the mechanism the spring shot out of its lair like a bolt of lightning. Spinning, coiling, and hissing at me until it looked like a giant condor sized nest backlash all balled up in your dads favorite bait casting reel! (you know the one he told you to never touch) :

:

. That's when I decided this was no job for a man without a good stiff bourbon in hand.

I guess I was too dismayed at the time to think of taking a picture of the spring while it was all wrapped around itself in a unrecognizable mass that looked similar to a giant number 9 brass wire Brillo Pad on my dining room table. Instead I started gently untangling and sipping telling myself out loud "I have the patience to do this". My wife sitting in the living room just feet away chuckling and saying under her breath "no you don't, never have".

After some time (and the majority of that glass of bourbon) I had that Brillo Pad all unknotted and straightened back out into one circular coil again. Just one problem, it's coiled backwards now. Yep, the inside hook is out and the outside hook is in.

At any rate here's a couple photos of the wire draw. One showing a label with manufacturers information and one of the unit disassembled. Notice the spring is still wound backwards.

I am taking a break from it for the time being. I'm trying to figure out how to rewind the spring the right direction while containing it. I will update soon.

Jim_Rogers · June 30, 2018, 10:30:26 AM

good luck

Percy · June 30, 2018, 03:19:17 PM

Your play by play is very entertaining.😂😂😂 I'll have a bourbon as well

CX3 · June 30, 2018, 03:36:48 PM

Giant brillo pad lolololol

Once I tried to tighten the spring in my logging tape. It's about the same type of thing you have there. Well it blew up all over the woods and went everywhere. The guy working with me asked what I was gonna do now. I said that's easy just get a new one.

DPatton · June 30, 2018, 08:31:46 PM

:D :D :D I hear ya on just getting a new one and I'd like to just get a new one. But my new one will cost $720.00 :(. I'm not saying I can't afford it, just trying to avoid having to afford it if you know what I mean ;D. This is a part I can see potentially getting broken again in the future so I figure I may as well make the most of the situation by gaining experience and knowledge of the encoder and the cable pull. I'm not sure I will ever get this one working again but I will at least know what makes this thing tick in the future.