VCI-100 jog wheel plastic guard replacement / repair - PICS inside

[NoiSe]

So I realize this probably won't apply to 99% of you, however for that 1%, such as myself, who got a bit screwed over buying a used VCI on ebay (read: plastic guard for one of the jog wheels was missing, resulting in an very wobbly jog wheel with messed up touch sensitivity), I thought this could be helpful, as I was very close to just selling off this VCI back on ebay and buying a new one.

So anyhow.. onto the fix:

1) Remove the back panel of the VCI. As you can see one of the plastic guards is missing:


2) Right


3) WRONG


4) I used a flat washer (less than $1 at Home Depot), inner diameter of 5/16"

[NoiSe]

5) Take off the other plastic guard, and use it to mark where the holes will need to be drilled


6) Drill that mother


7) Now. Here's where I messed up the first time, and you can learn from my mistake. Originally I got a washer with 1/4" inner diameter, and that fit the shaft of the jog wheel perfectly. Happy as a fat kid in a candy store, I put it on and hooked up the VCI thinking I was done. What I failed to realize is that because of the skin-tight fit of the washer, and the metal to metal contact of the shaft and the washer, the touch sensor went all loopy on me. To cut the long story short, it wasn't working the way it supposed to. SO, to get around that issue, I went and got a washer with a slightly larger inner diameter (5/16"), and to compensate for the gap that would've been there, used a bunch of electrical tape to line the inside of the washer. You need to do this because otherwise there's no point in doing all this work, as the jog wheel shaft will have enough room to move around.


8) And voila! We're done. I won't say it's as good as the original plastic guard, but it definitely does the job because the touch sensor works as intended now. Hopefully this will stand the test of time and won't require any further fixing / touching up down the road. By the way I only used 2 screws because: a. couldn't find any more laying around, and b. you don't really need the third one as the 2 of them hold the washer in place just fine.


And there you go. I hope this will help someone out if they ever run into the problem that I did

Cheers

[sm00sh]

awesome fix! so glad I bookmarked this. came in handy with a friends VCI

[athtsak]

now that's MacGyverisum. nice.

[pilmat]

Love your fix, but why not just use a plastic washer or a flat piece of plastic and drill the holes? The thing I'm concerned with is the tape will "pat down" after a while and some loose will develop, so if you went with the plastic washer, this wouldn't be an issue.

But good lateral thinking!!

Phil.

[sgb]

Love your fix, but why not just use a plastic washer or a flat piece of plastic and drill the holes? The thing I'm concerned with is the tape will "pat down" after a while and some loose will develop, so if you went with the plastic washer, this wouldn't be an issue.

But good lateral thinking!!

The plastic washer is definitely a good idea. Also, the electric tape isn't the greatest of ideas, just apply a lubricant like the Caig Cailube or a silicon on a 1/4" washer on the metal-metal (or metal-plastic) interface.

[NoiSe]

Love your fix, but why not just use a plastic washer or a flat piece of plastic and drill the holes?

Trust me, that's the first thing I thought of. But I've looked at several hardware stores and couldn't find one, so decided to go with the metal one as there were lots of sizes for those, and I wanted to fix the damn thing as soon as possible. If I ever come across a plastic washer the right size, I'm definitely gonna redo this and use that instead.

Thanks all! Glad it came in useful

[NoiSe]

just apply a lubricant like the Caig Cailube or a silicon on a 1/4" washer on the metal-metal (or metal-plastic) interface.

never heard of that.. wouldn't it wear off over time as well?

[bidders]

you can surely cut a plastic washer from any scrap piece of plastic you can find that is thick enough??