Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Sargon encoder disassembly help

microset3 wrote:

> My X axis encoder is missing steps. I'd like to disassemble it and see if I can clean it, but I don't see how the read head separates from the scale track. Can anyone help? Do I just need to pull harder? Seems risky.....
>

These things usually have some scheme to hold the sensor at the right
distance for the scale. The scale has a photo-etched nichrome grating
on it, and the read head has two similar gratings, but one of them is
shifted by 1/4 pitch, to create the 90 degree quadrature shift. They
need to be really close, but if they touch, the gratings get rubbed off.

Some have tiny instrument bearings that roll on the glass, or on the
housing, some cheap scales have plastic sliders that wear away, and then
the gratings start to rub. Often you can see how it works by removing
the end caps.
But, they all go together slightly differently, due to patents, so you
have to just examine your unit to see how the sensor is loaded against
the scale. Usually they have a springy metal ribbon or wire that drives
the sensor back and forth, on some this also provides the loading force.

Jon