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0nebadbug
Samba Member
Joined: October 01, 2009
Posts: 1087
Location: Rockford, Illinois
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 Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 3:46 pm Post subject: DIY semaphore rebuild .... here we go! |
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while I have been coming here for years.... But just recently started talking.
One thing I have found here.. or more 'lack of finding" is why no one here has ever done a visual style or a DIY text format of tool needs, steps checked for a full rebuild of a single simple VW style semaphore rebuild?
I know I would love to see one, From rivets ro spring & coil windings and coverings... While VW sems are dlicate I cant imagine them being rocket science and don't see why only a few recomend that they should only refer to this person or that person...
I WANT TO REBUILD MY OWN!!
Last edited by 0nebadbug on Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:04 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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henry roberts
Samba Member
Joined: February 24, 2003
Posts: 1275
Location: australia
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| Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:57 pm Post subject: |
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i think that there isn't a "how to" on them as there are some bits that need to be made and others that may be hard to source. specifically with HS (SHO) semaphores the hinge pin/rivet thingy and the tubular rivets that hold down the coil? to the base.
if you have a source for the hinge pins please share as i would like to rebuild my own as well. (if i had and could use a lathe they would be easy to make) |
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0nebadbug
Samba Member
Joined: October 01, 2009
Posts: 1087
Location: Rockford, Illinois
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| Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 6:10 pm Post subject: |
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yes kind og my same take...
I have quite a few sets here where I see the diffence of the newer V. older styles..
IE: ones with friction lock VS. hinge sprinded lock....
its a shame no one seems to offer a parts pack for either srtk... let alone a single source to a simple of 'how I' or 'what I' did to rebuild a set... even if ther were even done from a pro for advice of simple do or don't attempt of if you butch it here's whats happens... |
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ProjectX
Accessory Nut
Joined: May 01, 2006
Posts: 1014
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| Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 7:55 pm Post subject: |
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Probably because a few guys restore semaphores for money and why would they come on here and show everyone how to do it. It would be like a distributor restoration expert that charges for his services coming on here and teaching everyone how to restore distributors 
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Even my nuts are plated.....
195? Project "X"
1954 Oval Convertible |
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Glenn 
Mr. 010
Joined: December 25, 2001
Posts: 76935
Location: Sneaking up behind you
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| Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 7:58 pm Post subject: |
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| 56OvalRHD wrote: |
| It would be like a distributor restoration expert that charges for his services coming on here and teaching everyone how to restore distributors |
Uh.. I do offer rebuild kits and there's a old and basic step by step on my website.
I do have some things I don't share 
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Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"
Member #1009
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ProjectX
Accessory Nut
Joined: May 01, 2006
Posts: 1014
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| Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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| Glenn wrote: |
| I do have some things I don't share |
That's what I mean And you are right to protect your knowledge!
He would follow the instructions, and the semaphore would pop half way up and he'd come on here and say "It only pops half way up?" and then the professional would pop in and say "You can send it to me and for a small fee I can get it going for you?"
It really is so much cheaper in the long run for SOME of these parts to let the professionals do their magic. There are 3 guys who can restore these semahphores to better than new condition that I know of, and in the long run they are cheap!
_________________
Even my nuts are plated.....
195? Project "X"
1954 Oval Convertible |
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Glenn
Mr. 010
Joined: December 25, 2001
Posts: 76935
Location: Sneaking up behind you
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| Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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| 56OvalRHD wrote: |
| Glenn wrote: |
| I do have some things I don't share |
That's what I mean And you are right to protect your knowledge!
He would follow the instructions, and the semaphore would pop half way up and he'd come on here and say "It only pops half way up?" and then the professional would pop in and say "You can send it to me and for a small fee I can get it going for you?"
It really is so much cheaper in the long run for SOME of these parts to let the professionals do their magic. There are 3 guys who can restore these semahphores to better than new condition that I know of, and in the long run they are cheap! |
Well, that's like an engine builder giving you all his specs, tips and measurements.
It took me a few years and many distributors until I figured exactly what to do. You also need some special tools that you can't buy at Sears or Home Depot.
None of this stuff is Rocket Science, you just have to work at it and figure it out for yourself.
And like you said, when you've done a few hundred, you can do a better job than you did the first time.
_________________
Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"
Member #1009
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0nebadbug
Samba Member
Joined: October 01, 2009
Posts: 1087
Location: Rockford, Illinois
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| Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 10:15 am Post subject: |
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| Glenn wrote: |
| 56OvalRHD wrote: |
| It would be like a distributor restoration expert that charges for his services coming on here and teaching everyone how to restore distributors |
Uh.. I do offer rebuild kits and there's a old and basic step by step on my website.
I do have some things I don't share |
while I would love to just "send mine to a pro" first, I see the cost of a set of used, second, a set of NEW nos sets cost and they are well out of my budget. From there I can only imagine what a pro would charge to rebuild a matched set to nos specs...
for me, I have half a dozen sitting here & while most work fine a few I have do not.. And rather than just destroying one piece of art just to see what makes it tick it would be nice to at least be able to find a simple outline or guideline as 'try this' or 'dont do that' or 'if this is the case' send it to the pros...
Granted I dont have a reputaion on here to some of the 20,000+ posters here... I just find it strange that this little item has not been disected in depth rather than dont bother... send it here ot there..
I did cruise to your site but I'll be damned if I can find any list of procedure or your rebuild kit... Saw alot of the '74 rebuild though...
very nice work!... |
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AlteWagen
Troll
Joined: February 23, 2007
Posts: 8503
Location: PNW
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| Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 1:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Didnt VW Trends or Hot VWs do a simple how to on restoring semis? |
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DTurpin
Samba Member
Joined: July 01, 2008
Posts: 32
Location: Sweden
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| Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 1:47 pm Post subject: |
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| I bought an article online from volksworld (I think it was) called Semaphore rebuild. Not worth the money I can say, you find much more info here on samba.. |
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0nebadbug
Samba Member
Joined: October 01, 2009
Posts: 1087
Location: Rockford, Illinois
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| Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 5:24 pm Post subject: |
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| derluftwagen wrote: |
| Didnt VW Trends or Hot VWs do a simple how to on restoring semis? |
I have found none in years of search....
Any Link? ...Reference? |
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Glenn
Mr. 010
Joined: December 25, 2001
Posts: 76935
Location: Sneaking up behind you
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| Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 7:20 pm Post subject: |
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| 0nebadbug wrote: |
I did cruise to your site but I'll be damned if I can find any list of procedure or your rebuild kit... Saw alot of the '74 rebuild though...
very nice work!... |
You missed this: http://www.glenn-ring.com/010/
As i told you when I replied to your PM... I rebuild distributors, not semaphores.
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Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"
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0nebadbug
Samba Member
Joined: October 01, 2009
Posts: 1087
Location: Rockford, Illinois
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| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 4:50 am Post subject: |
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| Glenn wrote: |
| 0nebadbug wrote: |
I did cruise to your site but I'll be damned if I can find any list of procedure or your rebuild kit... Saw alot of the '74 rebuild though...
very nice work!... |
You missed this: http://www.glenn-ring.com/010/
As i told you when I replied to your PM... I rebuild distributors, not semaphores. |
Yas got it... after the second read thru... actually did find that...
If my distributor were bad Iwould know where to get the parts &fix it now....
Sometimes mssing the point gets overlooked its like lookng for your glasses when they're on your head... |
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0nebadbug
Samba Member
Joined: October 01, 2009
Posts: 1087
Location: Rockford, Illinois
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Brezelwerks
Samba Member
Joined: March 17, 2003
Posts: 1421
Location: Tyngsboro, MA
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| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:42 am Post subject: |
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| 0nebadbug wrote: |
yes kind og my same take...
I have quite a few sets here where I see the diffence of the newer V. older styles..
IE: ones with friction lock VS. hinge sprinded lock....
its a shame no one seems to offer a parts pack for either srtk... let alone a single source to a simple of 'how I' or 'what I' did to rebuild a set... even if ther were even done from a pro for advice of simple do or don't attempt of if you butch it here's whats happens... |
Semaphores generally aren't user-friendly/serviceable by most folks, thats why a few niche guys provide various resto services for them. They aren't really that complicated, just a little tedious to disassemble and re-assemble if/when needed. Many times most semaphores just need a good cleaning and relubrication so they work better.
If that doesn't do the trick, if you have some skills working with electro-mechanical things then perhaps you could request some "at your own risk" spare parts from one of the resto guys, but I wouldn't expect free consultation services or open sharing of what are really trade secrets, even if its from guys that only do this in their spare time. Its not fair really to expect that given the time/energy some have put into offering these services, and most do this as a means to fund some of their own interests in the hobby, and not as a real business, since far as I know all semaphore resto guys have day jobs.
My suggestion is that if you have a few semaphores that simply need some tuning, try the DIY cleanup first, and beyond that likely one of the guys could offer you some reasonable basic work, and not full blown resto work if you don't want it, just PM them to see what they might offer you, good luck. |
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0nebadbug
Samba Member
Joined: October 01, 2009
Posts: 1087
Location: Rockford, Illinois
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| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 12:21 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah did the simple DIY thing... I can what the isues are on each...
Oh well time to just (& hopefully not trash one) and satisfy my curiosity...
Will post pics of the experience later tonight hopefully.... |
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VWwerks
Samba Member
Joined: March 07, 2002
Posts: 207
Location: Wisconsin
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| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 3:30 pm Post subject: |
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Take good pictures of all the little parts before you take them apart. Take a lot of pics of the pivot section.
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www.VWwerks.com |
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0nebadbug
Samba Member
Joined: October 01, 2009
Posts: 1087
Location: Rockford, Illinois
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| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 5:23 pm Post subject: |
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well so far so good... haven't trashed it yet...
Click the pics for the full size view the resixe makes them hard to read...
and heres whaer I am now... just temporarily put it together and WHOA! Like night and day
Didn't even do anything but click and go about 1/4 of the way up before!
Link
Well now that I know it works....
where I am at now is
Cleaning the rest of the linkage
(going to try a few mild medias in the blaster and see what doesnt destry them, especially the spring!)
findi the right braided wire
remove the covers & inspect and/or clean the coil
Reseal them with some shrinky dink electrical insulation
Figure out what to do for the brass grommets or brass flare tubes
(they kinda remind of some of the brass fittings I've seen at the hobby shop for R/C boats and cars)
also will try to get a spring winding # size and weight if I can... this has me intigued 
and the put the whole ting back in the damn car....
soon as I pivkup the stuffs later this week or weekend...I'll update this... |
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Matts Bug Parts
Samba Member
Joined: July 01, 2001
Posts: 200
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| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 8:11 pm Post subject: Semaphore Restoration |
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Matt from Matt's Parts here - I like to think that I am the best semaphore restorer in the world - from years of practice and almost constant focus on making minor improvements almost to the point of perfection.
Some years ago a video was made but provided only the basic info. Given that there are two brands, SWF and SHO followed by variances within those two brands in gets a little complex - for SWF there are differences between the first left and rights onto the ribbed and then onto the smooth.
There are quite a few different fasteners - nuts, bolts, rivets/grommets, pins etc. n the springs-took me a year of playinmg to perfect making the return coil spring that wraps around the hinge pin - and still I get 3 or 4 good ones for every 10 I start - excpet this past weekend when I did worse than that. There is alao the need for cadmium plating for the bodies/housings - or zinc and then nickel plating for the pistons-and your plater needs to know what they are doing.
It takes many hours to completely restore semaphores to NOS condition-with the most important step - staring with a good decent used unit.
Perhaps when I retire I can write it all down with pics.
Matt |
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DTurpin
Samba Member
Joined: July 01, 2008
Posts: 32
Location: Sweden
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| Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:53 am Post subject: |
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| 0nebadbug wrote: |
well so far so good... haven't trashed it yet...
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Nice wrap up, I did the same thing a month or two ago. Mine wasn't that bad as yours but the solenoid it self was in bad shape. Probably because of the 12v eating it had been doing. So I mainly took it apart to rewind it to 12v.
The hardest part was to find the protection wrap and lacquer for the solenoid but I finally got in contact with a company that rewind motors, they had of course. |
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