Dear all,
Last week my usually smooth running and easy starting RGS Rep almost failed to get me home :(
After an anxious week of fretting, and eyeing up the eye watering cost of a magneto rebuild (£400 ish ouch !!!)..... we always think its the worse case scenario
I traced sudden poor starting and misfires/ stalling and some spectacular backfires on trying to start it... on my first out of lockdown run to a dirty slip ring..... and at the other end of the magneto a very dirty earthing brush ring and pick up.
Raided the bathroom for some cotton wool buds and using petrol/brake cleaner cleaned up both rings - seems fine now and starts easy and ticks over smoothly again -
hope this helps someone here trace or eliminate similar symptoms.
Yes, there are some who charge £400ish for a mag rebuild, but there are others who charge a whole lot less. If you ever need it doing try Tony Cooper first.
I had a full magneto rebuild with new windings, condenser etc by Peter de Keuper at Rutland Dynamos for £320. Excellent job
Thanks both
Actually it was Tony Cooper rebuilt the mag on my bike in June 2004
Armature/bearings/slip rings/seals etc - so thats 17 years ago £80 parts and £40 labour + £122.35p
His prices may well have increased since then but 17 years and its still going strong ....
Matt
Hi,
For stubborn tarnishing on the slip ring I had a 'pen' for cleaning the wheels on model electric trains. It looked like a propelling pencil but instead of a graphite stick coming out it was a tight bundle of glass fibres.
Used sparingly the slip ring could be cleaned whilst in situ.
Dave.
Thanks Dave - that looks just the job and a good tip
:) :) :)
I use a pencil with the eraser on the end
Mike 8) 8) 8)
Very much on the off chance: my Velo- Venom magneto stopped working when th bike got warm/ hot and it turned out to be the capacitor (I dunno, 60 + years old in it suddenly packs in...
Long story short, I bought a solid state capacitor from these guys.... Perfect. http://brightsparkmagnetos.com/easycap/