For a few weeks now I've been meaning to deal with my sticky ammeter on my M20. I'd noticed that the operation had become erratic, at first thinking that the charging wasn't working. Common sense "The headlight gets brighter above tick-over" prevailed on that point. So I'd convinced myself that some lubrication was needed, that the mechanism must have succumbed to the humidity here in Singapore. Yesterday I finally got round to paying this some attention, along with overall wash, a few pumps on each grease nipple and general check, a follow-up to oil change, filter wash and gearbox top up a few weeks earlier. Last on the list, was to try a squirt of WD40 into the workings of the ammeter. Result....WD40 liberally sprayed inside the headlight, and me. Ok, no harm in that, but no change in behavior of my errant needle either. So now I start to actually "look" more closely at the ammeter in daylight, what do I see? The needle is plastic, and has warped, no doubt due to the heat from the sun on day rides. The needle now curves gently upwards so that it is pushed into the underside of the glass cover and so sticks, moving from one reading to the next only on "strong" instruction! So mystery solved. But solution is unclear. I can take the ammeter apart, fiddly bending of tabs on the lens rim and the like. But when I've done that all I can do is bend the needle back, no doubt needing to apply some heat to encourage this to happen. I suspect this won't be a very permanent fix though. What I want is a metal needle, but I think that would be part of a more original ammeter and thus located close to the rocking horse manure!

For now I'll just live with the sticking operation, but if anyone has a suggestion I'd love to hear. I'm also intrigued if anyone else has come across this problem?

Richard

email (option): Dickie.bobbie@hotmail.co.uk

Richard are you sure the needle is plastic,metal was war time and early lucas till the 50s at least were ali, or some other kind of metal I have always attributed this bending to over loading the circuit and the later plastic faces melt!!if you do. By the way they painted the war time needles with radioactive luminous paint, andrew.h

email (option): warbikes@gmail.com

Andrew, have you got any details about the period that luminous paint might have been used on CZ27 motorcycle ammeters ? I'm hoping that my 1939 dated instrument with lighting window is OK (the needle hasn't turned brownish).

I was talking with David Woods at Kempton last time and he said that as far as he knows, the Smiths speedos were never luminous (and in fact the markings wipe off with any mild solvent).

I know that aircraft and U.S. vehicles suffer from this danger but was it widespread in British motorcycle ancillaries ?

Not bad..an ammeter needle that lasts 150,000 years....all you need to do is put a bit of lead over the glass... ...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

I should think riding the bike is statistically more risky than the chance of getting contaminated by looking at the ammeter... ...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Ian, apparently the wartime luminous instruments are OK if left closed but if opened and dusted, they're lethal. In the Netherlands, collectors of aircraft instruments have been raided by the men in protective suits.

As I understand it, the radium paint will now have turned brown so any clocks with white paint still in are probably OK.

Which was more than could be said for the people that painted them no doubt...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Reading this message has got me a bit worried. Just next to me on the mantle is a Spitfire clock that was my Grandfathers. The odd numbers are all white, but the even ones are brown? Should I be keeping it in a lead box?

Bill, it's worth 'Googling' and having a read. I inherited a couple of Kienzles from a Messerschmidt and a Junkers and spent my teenage years fiddling with them. I hope it's not as bad as some people say.

As I understand it, if the glass is intact then you should be more or less OK.

Even service wristwatches from the 1940s are a problem and most watchmakers won't touch them.

Cancer related problems were rife for a period in groups of workers who historically were employed in the clock and watch industry...The luminous numerals and 'hands' of the timepieces were painted by hand, usually by women, and they used to moisten the brushes with saliva to keep a sharp end on them...with predictably (nowadays) nasty results...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Yikes, that set off a trail I wasn't expecting. The ammeter in question is a pattern general purpose one, not period at all. So on the plus side no radioactivity. On the minus side....bendy plastic tat. I'll take a photo at the weekend, I'm away fr



om tomorrow in Malaysia at Seremban with work...and would you credit it having run out of petrol last night, pushed half a mile or so and filled up I find this morning that Bessie has dribbled petrol a little overnight. So after today's trip to and from work and then Bootcamp I had to drain off a gallon from the full tank before the main tap ceased (I hope) to seep petrol from around the slide.
So can any one point me to a quick supplier for the cork insert5s so I can fix at the weekend?? Not forgetting I'm in Singapore ;-)

email (option): dickie.bobbie@hotmail.co.uk

Don't they grow those cork trees out there. You should be supplying us Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Remember the old Trimphone telephones. Well they had radioactive dials to be seen in the dark. They where perfectly OK on their own but when they got scrapped BT threw all the dials in a large heap. It wasn't long before they realised that they needed the men in white suits to take em to Sellafield

Thanks Ron....I'll see what I can chop down

email (option): Dickie.bobbie@hotmail.co.uk