Alex, the lesson is more complicated.
Remember Ray and Carla's experience in Europe?.... They were stranded
for a while with a rotor that "looked" ok, but had an internal short.
Michael Saltzer gave an outstanding explanation of the problem with some
rotors at the Washington DC conclave....
He explained that some manufacturers poked the rivet a bit too hard down
the center of the rotor. (actually, his explanation was more
elegant.)....but the point is there is an internal failure path for the
cheap rivet rotors. It is electrical and mechanical. In some
instances the plastic (bakelite?) material is compromised inside and an
electrical path can be established to ground through the center of the
rotor (that is what happened to Ray and Carla). In other cases, the
material is compromised and it fractures (with catestrophic results).
So, lesson isn't to just "change the rotor"... because that is what Ray
had done. He was meticulous and had changed his rotor before the
trip... whereas if he had kept with the good high quality "old" one,
he'd have been better off... who would have guessed??!!
I happened to have a Moss rotor with me, and it was from one of the
"good" batches... that is what got Ray home. If I'm not mistaken, we
had other "rotor" experiences, and some people decided the UK ones were
superior.... I'm unconvinced.
The real lesson: Rotors are not reliable nowadays. It is wize to keep
a working one in service, and to carry a couple of spares from different
build lots... so that if you do need to replace the operationsl unit,
you've got a couple of different batches to choose from for the next
iteration.
Luckily, rotors are small, and cheap.... :-)
Best wishes to you and Helga.... hope Lady G is soon on the road.
Thanks
-skip-
ZManDino@aol.com wrote:
>
> Last Saturday I had the same rotor failure that Michael experienced.
> The rotor was made by Intermotor, part # DRB106, hopefully made in England,
>but
> who knows for sure. It must be a rotor conspiracy. Lesson learned: Always
> change the rotor with the points.
>
> Alex Zanini
> BN7 MK1
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