Quad Feeder Issue

I tend to get issue on and off with the feeders either stalling and/or running slow/noisy.

They are actually pretty easy to clean and maintain.

If you take off the side panel of the feeder you will see a few gears, belts and a motor. The first thing to check is that the motor can turn freely. Check this by spinning the optical encoder (looks like a black cross on the end of a shaft. Sometimes this moves on the shaft so it is not correctly located in the slot and ends up rubbing against the feeder housing. You can gently pry the encoder (as close to the shaft as possible) so that it sits evenly in the slot and does not rub when rotating.

The next issue with these feeders is the tape pull rubber wheel. These tend to melt and often gunk up the inside of the feeder. A liberal application of isoprop alchohol will fix the gunking but the tape pull wheel may need replacing. I have been able to replace the rubber by removing the old gunk/rubber then cut a small square of replacement rubber, attach to the (removed) pulley hub with glue, then spin then hub on a dremmel drill. Whilst spinning slowly advance a sharp knife on the rubber so you end up cutting a near perfect circular wheel. Works a treat and I have repaired probably 20 feeders like this.

The final issue I have encountered is the pogo pins on the back of the feeder where it connects with the power rail on the Quad have broken. Careful application of a solder bump kinda-sorta fixed that particular feeder, but I try not to put it on-off the machine too often.

Hopefully your issue is something simple like this.

BR, Steve

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