Phew ! Fixed with x4 cotton buds

[Matt Brighton]

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.

[ChrisG]

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.

[Pete A10]

I had a full magneto rebuild with new windings, condenser etc by Peter de Keuper at Rutland Dynamos for £320. Excellent job

[Matt Brighton]

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

[DAVE BRADY]

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.

[Matt Brighton]

Thanks Dave - that looks just the job and a good tip

[Mike Farmer]

 
I use a pencil with the eraser on the end

Mike

[geraldhattrick75]

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/