Bob & Ron's vintage Link Trainer (aka Blue Box) restoration adventures
We ran across this unique hose splice while replacing some old brittle hoses on the ANT-18. Here is the hose we found connecting the roll valve to the East roll bellows. It separated at the splice. It had been repaired in a former life with a socket used as a hose connector. Too funny.
We received a good restoration hint from Charles who is rebuilding a turning motor for the Bayport Aerodrome, New York. He normally works on player pianos. He recommends replacing old leather nuts with plastic ones. Charles says that leather nuts supplied today are full of acid and he has had steel threaded rods destroyed in less than 10 years by them. He recommends plastic nuts with a ¼” hex head which look something like a leather nut.
They are available from Klann Organ Supply, www.klannorgan.com . They have a #50 center hole and will go on to most small threads. They tend to crack if the thread is too big so it is best to drill out the center hole to about 0.010” under the outside diameter of the threads you are going on to. #50 = 0.070”. A tip of the hat to Charles.
Our Esp’s Elevator Valve was so old and dirty that the top and bottom sections were “stuck” together. We cleaned it up, lubricated it with gun oil, and connected it to the pitch bellows with new 5/8″ vacuum hoses.
This video shows the elevator valve refurbishing, and describes its operation.
Our C-3 pitch and roll bellows needed to be refurbished. They were stiff, leaking vacuum, and barely moving the trainer. This video shows how to bring them back into working order.
We have been working on our aileron valves. The primary problems involve old gummy lubrication which caused them to be stiff, dirty dry linkage, and cracked hoses. We removed the valves, disassembled them, cleaned the old dirt and grease off, then lubricated them with gun oil. We replaced worn and cracked hoses. The aileron valve moves smoothly now.
Check out the Aileron valve section under Restoration hints for more info.