Drano wrote:I looked back at all your pics and I'm seeing the damage. It's certainly happening! You say you've changed out the cams but the damage persists. Only one thing causes that and that's friction. Something isn't moving as it's supposed to. There are two things making contact here. You've said the cam moves. The cam the cam the cam. Got it. I'm trying to get you to look at the other half of equation, the roller bearing. It's supposed to spin along the face of the cam as the gimbal moves. I'm seeing all sorts of damage on the face of the cam but every pic shows what appears to be a pristine roller. Leads me to believe it's not rolling at all, else there would be marks on that as well. That roller doesn't get a full revolution even at full deflection either way but certainly enough we'd see something on the face of it. I'm guessing there is on the side facing the cam that we can't see in your pics. If it's stuck in one position (not rolling) it may have developed a flat spot against the cam which would effectively stop it from rolling making the problem worse as time goes by. Might also tend to explain why this problem has spanned different sets of cams. The pivot bearing on the cam would have no effect on this problem.
Either take the springs off the cam or simply push it away from the roller. Forget about the cam for now. Try to spin the roller. It should spin easily and smoothly. If it's not spinning or is very hard to turn, that's your problem. It's GOT TO SPIN. If it spins but isn't smooth (grinding), that's a problem too. It could be sticking at a certain point not allowing proper travel. Spin it completely around and closely inspect the face of the roller all the way around for any odd marks across it's face that might indicate a flat spot. It may be really obvious, may not be. Try feeling with your fingernail. It should be perfectly smooth.
In short, the smooth surface of the roller rolls (not slides) along the smooth surface of the cam. If something is stopping that rolling, that's gonna cause friction which isn't supposed to be happening. Keep in mind this is a mechanic trying to help someone with what to me is a very basic mechanical problem. I've no idea what your level of skills there are. Just glad to help if I can.
Hi Drano,
Thanks! but as mentioned in all my previous posts, the bearing is spinning along the entire length of the cam. There is no sliding. The bearing spins freely, and it also gets coated in chrome & copper dust and also needs to be cleaned as well as the cams. I would be the over the moon if the bearing were faulty.
Fallout has hopefully addressed my concern about faulty cams and this probably being an isolated case, therefore I'll go back and reevaluate my base construction & cam installations.