Gabriel's heater arrives via Fedex TODAY in shambles; investigating why/how

[PhysicsProf]

After talking to FedEX for the 2nd time today..... They can not find any record of us talking to them or of any claim filed..... nor can they even generate a claim number off of the tracking number on my end....... The lady I spoke to today was in Aww about this and said she was sorry, that this has never happened before to her.  

Steve can you give me the numbers on the plastic tote from the new shipping tag?

To be real frank about this .... I am ready to move on!

Look the main thing is that you have it and so be it.  First thing is testing the motor to see if it still working. next is bolting it back on the heat core.
This is really easy. I am not worried about any scraping at this point being that it is not together and is loose for parts to rub.

Yea mybad for not taking picture of the crate and heater inside of it. I guess I am new at this whole thing  


I would love to find the FedEx diver that I helped load this crate into his truck and get him on video describing the crate.

So I say lets move on and get some testing done. I am ready on my end when you are ready on yours.

No problem, Gabriel -- lets remember to take lots of digital  photos or vids in the future.
I sent #'s to you via email.
Chet -- black box has no major identifier on it except:
"Orbis" - manufacturer
Old shipping label, about 70% torn off.
I also see there is a foot-long jagged crack on the bottom of this container.


Gabriel:

First thing is testing the motor to see if it still working. next is bolting it back on the heat core.
This is really easy. I am not worried about any scraping at this point being that it is not together and is loose for parts to rub.

OK, will test the motor right away.  But bolting it on and running before putting OIL in it?  and checking it inside?  can't recommend that...  I don't like the scraping noise or the difficulty in turning the shaft.
Do you want me to add oil and tighten the three nuts (in triangle) which hold the unit together first??

 Please clarify!

[PhysicsProf]

The motor runs nicely.  My rpm meter says 3597 rpm -- I suppose its 1/3 that since there are three teeth.

[Magluvin]

Yes, I suppose it would be the 'safest' move to just let it go after a day of hammering from 2 countries in 1 day.

But ya know what? It would be interesting to do a lil project on this stuff.

Go into a forum, show a device that seems to be clearly OU. Hang out for a while, giving reasonable explanation of relatively simple things like coils and magnets and circuitry. And sorta drag it out a bit stating the usual things we here in these situations, and one day pick someone from the thread to be the one that you want to send it to, to test it for themselves.   Design the mock setup so it looks like something that might need 'the boys' to come out and examine it, or rip it to shreds. And if funny business happens between shipping, and we get this kind of 'no answers' situation, and we really dig in to find out what really happened. Oh, so the twilight zone really exists? It must have flown over the bermuda triange, and what is in the plastic container is the best they could do with it in the alternate universe.  

I might think that if a package that was suspicious that maybe calling the sender, of which if the sender answers, it is a good sing to begin with, and ask some questions before calling in the Demolition Man, and have the eggs to throw it all in a container and resume the shipment, no form of COMMUNICATION AT ALL!!!!!.  A conspiracy theorists wet dream.

I bet if you get an ATTY to make several calls, some answers might come to light. In our 'field' having knowledge of what is really happening in these situations can be extremely valuable. If it turned out to really be just xray suspicious package and have the specialists check it out. I might think these Specialists are involved with this company full time.

Imagine what other things this happens to because 'they' are all just too paranoid is my only guess.

I would venture to say that this is not an isolated incident and the losses must be, well, lots. Somebody must have gotten an atty and at least got some answers before this. Heck, LET US KNOW WHAT WE DID SO WE DONT DO IT AGAIN!!  Because WE KNOW NOTHING!
And our stuff is all in pieces and it was "definitely' and 'inside' job.

But like you said, no insurance, no pics nor proof of anything really. Well, wait a min.  Not that we would want to be letting them view, but the 'threads' could be very good proof of the condition, words and pics, just as much as pictures taken.

Bah, this can drive one crazy. lol  Hev you checked the package for bugs?   Just kidding. maybe.  

But it would be neat to test the boundaries a bit with harmless materials.

I wonder if shipping 'oil' like that is an issue? Packages might need special handling, like, you know, just any old plastic container and snap the flimsy lid on it.

Mags

[Gabriel]

Steve,

WONDERFUL about the motor

With Optimism

Remove the 3 all-thread bolts, then remove the lovejoy coupler.  After this remove the lid to the oil LV.

If the oil level is within 1.500" from the top we are fine. if it is lower add some oil, use only soy oil refined, cooking oil.
After all this done reinstall the lid, screw the 3 all-thread bolts back in to about 4" from the top of the lid. { you will tighten them later }
Install the Lovjoy coupler back onto the shaft with the Key.
Install the motor and mount, The vent hole on the lid is that back of the system.
After installing the motor mount tighten down the 4 nuts securing the motor and the lid.
you can now tighten down the 3 all-thread to hold down the static discs on the inside of the core. you do not need a lot here, to tight is BAD, just snug will do.

[Gabriel]

So my wife and I was out to dinner talking about this and she recalled not to long ago something that did happen to my PayPal account.
It was put on hold after receiving a payment from Iceland and after talking with them they wanted 5 forms of ID before they would release the funds and open up my account!!

Now me being myself I told them to take a flying hike and it was none of there business what I was selling or to whom. Now looking back at all this maybe not the best way to handle this. I just get sick of Big Brother watching of me like a child. 20/20 hindsight I am sure i was red flagged ...lol and I just got my pass port last week as well for the first time in my life.


                                                                                             Gestapo 

[Chet K]

Gabriel
Seems you have a very good technician on the rebuild

crazy story indeed,like a cheap B film movie script [a bit sloppy on the G man side]

thx
Chet

[Gabriel]

 

The rebuild will be easy  

I bet we can test this this weekend if that works for Steve. I am leaving out of town this weekend and I will not have a cell on me. so if we can do this tomorrow then that would be nice. If I was there it would only take about 20 min. Someone needs to hurry up with the teleportation device. 

Chet,
     {I wish this was just a story}

[PhysicsProf]

Steve,

WONDERFUL about the motor

With Optimism

Remove the 3 all-thread bolts, then remove the lovejoy coupler.  After this remove the lid to the oil LV.

If the oil level is within 1.500" from the top we are fine. if it is lower add some oil, use only soy oil refined, cooking oil.
After all this done reinstall the lid, screw the 3 all-thread bolts back in to about 4" from the top of the lid. { you will tighten them later }
Install the Lovjoy coupler back onto the shaft with the Key.
Install the motor and mount, The vent hole on the lid is that back of the system.
After installing the motor mount tighten down the 4 nuts securing the motor and the lid.
you can now tighten down the 3 all-thread to hold down the static discs on the inside of the core. you do not need a lot here, to tight is BAD, just snug will do.

Ok, will begin with early daylight tomorrow. 

Q's:
1 Install the Lovjoy coupler back onto the shaft with the Key. -- what is the key? allen wrench, or other?    I don't find this in the crate if you sent.
2 Approximately how much soy oil would it take, maximum?  I will need to go buy some (no problem)
3  What constitutes the "seal" for oil retention?  is there a big O-ring, or what?
4  The lovjoy coupler has a plastic "asterisk" that was in it - about the same diameter, fits between the 3 teeth nicely.  What is this for?  *

Steve
ps -Thanks, you optimism is contagious!

[TinMan]

4  The lovjoy coupler has a plastic "asterisk" that was in it - about the same diameter, fits between the 3 teeth nicely.  What is this for?  *

Steve
ps -Thanks, you optimism is contagious!

That stays in the coupling-it stops the 3 steel fingers on each half of the coupling from hitting with a metal to metal contact.
It's kind of like a shock absorber.

[PhysicsProf]

Gabriel --
1.  How do I loosen the Lovejoy coupler -- what kind of tool to release the key?  if you sent the tool, I find it nowhere in the new shipping crate.

2.  Uploading a vid showing dings on the top SS plate esp. between two of the bolts.  Also, much dried oil on bottom flange. And much oil I wiped off the unit and the motor -- as seen in previous vids, and now on the paper towel. 
Were all these there prior to shipment?  (especially those dings on the SS plate)?

See  http://youtu.be/F8uvNH1vQ2g   

[Gabriel]

Steve,

The Key should of been in the Key way between the lovejoy and the shaft that makes them 1 unit. Yes its should be there, I sent it fully assembled.
If it is not then whom every took it apart did not put it back. It is a 3/16x3/16x about 1.5" long, fits in the key way of the shaft and lovejoy.

It does take an Allen wrench, cant remember what size....... I think 1/8

You will only need oil "IF" it is empty or low, is it?  When it is fully empty it holds just shy of 2 US gallons. Cost around $15 dollars at any supper store.
 
After it is assembled the 4 nuts will seal the lid to the body, the body fits into an O-ring grove.

And tinman is right about the plastic part of the lovejoy, it is the shock absorber in the system.

[Gabriel]

If the dings are next to the taped hole then I did that when a TAP broke on me and had to beat it out with a chisel and re tap the hole. 

[PhysicsProf]

OK.  I found the appropriate allen wrench and loosened the coupler (which was down 1.4 mm from the top of the shaft, rather than flush) and removed coupler.

The orange sealant around the flange and cylinder was already broken, much of it gone.
Removed the 4 bolts, lifted the innards enough to see that there is:

1. No O-ring.  Entirely gone.  And not in the shipping container.

2.  No oil observed inside the vessel.

3. Sticking a flexible tape measure in, it is 8.5" from the bottom of the top metal housing flange down to the first disk.  Is this how its supposed to be?

At least, I will need a new O-ring and about 2 gallons of veg-oil. 
(This makes me angry, what "they" did.  This was no accident. )

[PhysicsProf]

(I'm skyping Gabriel, per his suggestion.  Taking it apart properly, to see how it looks inside, or if they damaged it such that it is not functional... talk to y'all later.)

[PhysicsProf]

OK!  I talked to Gabriel, and with him watching via skype as I disassembled with care .  It is clear that "they"  had it apart and did not know how to put it together!  The shims were not on properly, and the oil was gone also. 

Maybe by leaving nuts off and bolts loose they were sending a message -- "we messed this up... take apart, clean, add oil and rebuild before you hook it back up to the motor."  Nice guys, huh?   

Anyway, that's what I'll do with Gabriel's instruction.  Nothing appears permanently broken.

Pls see question about PF = 0.25 on the other Gabriel thread in this forum.

[PhysicsProf]

  Following Gabriel's instructions, I have removed the inner shims and the disks from the spin-axle.  

Gabriel told me to be very careful to NUMBER each disk so as to preserve the ordering, also the orientation.  I did so.
But right away, I noticed that most adjacent disk-faces do NOT show the same pattern of circular grooving -- see attached photos.

You can start with the bottom of the bottom disk which is un-grooved as it should be, but the top of the top disk shows grooving around the edge and deep grooving near the center.  What causes the grooving on the top of the topmost disk?  It looks like "they" did not keep track of the order of the disks!  and put it back together without respect for the order that Gabriel placed them in.

We see this in other cases also -- bottom of disk 3 and top of 2 were facing each other, yet the grooving patterns do NOT match.
Ditto for top of 5 an bottom of 7, and top of 1 and bottom of 2.

They really messed it up.   And messed up our efforts to TEST a rather straightforward and very safe device.  Surely they could have seen it was safe without removing the disks!  

BTW, when I first removed the disk assembly, several of the disks were off-kilter and rubbing.

Gabriel -- I'm ready to have you check this nonsense-ordering (from these guys) and also the deep grooves (e.g. disk 3).
Still willing to drive it out to you if necessary...

[Gabriel]

I will Skype you 

[PhysicsProf]

  OK, good. 

I just re-examined, looking for the pattern of marks left by the pressure bolts (circular marks, arranged in triangle on outside of static disks).  I found the tri-pattern on the top of disk 8 (topmost) as expected -- but also on Disk 6, on both top and bottom of disk 6!

A little detective work...  dang, I should have checked for finger prints  lol   

[PhysicsProf]

  The 1"-OD shims that go on the axle are about 3mm thick (annularly) except for one, about half that.  This one, noted Gabriel, needs to be on the bottom of the pile (#1 position).  But when I disassembled the disks, I numbered them and also numbered the 1" shims.  
The #1 shim was NOT in the proper position upon "arrival in shambles", but was rather in the #3 position.  So "they" definitely took it apart and reassembled it sloppily.  Evidently they didn't know that the order was important or just didn't care.

I also checked the flatness of the spin-plates, something Gabriel was concerned about.  I checked by simply placing each plate on a newer pane of glass, and moving pressure around with my fingers and thumb, checking for flatness.  5 of the plates were quite flush with the glass; three were not:

Disk 3 -- the edge admitted a nickel+3x5card easily (slid under the edge), out-of-flat there by approx 2.5 mm ~ 100 mils.

Disks 6 and 7 -- the edges admitted a penny, approx 1mm out of flat.