Appreciate any help.

Magnificent web site. A lot of useful information here. I’m sending it to some buddies ans additionally sharing in delicious. And naturally, thank you for your sweat!…

Anyway in step three remove all of the flat screws around the sids and the 3 on the bottom as well as the 4 protruding but indented screws into the plastic base on the bottom. That way you don’t have to worry about holding the unit to the very short ribbon cable and then you can just lean the unit against a wall or something with out it braking like it did to me the first time I did it the wrong way.

Video
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69888245@N08/6347973972/

Picture with bottom off
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69888245@N08/6347229051/

Picture of the bottom
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69888245@N08/6347977488/in/photostream/

These things are no longer available, so a fix is the only route…. or buying 1 for parts.

1. The size of hex key needed is 1/16″

2. When disassembling the unit, there is no need to remove the four screws that are below the faders (near the jog wheel). Instead, take out the screws from the bottom of the unit (8), this allows the jog wheel assembly to be lifted out of the base (and not risk damaging the jog wheel’s ribbon).

3. With regards to checking for a blown motor (your step #6), an easier way to test the motor on one of these faders is by simply checking for resistance (ohms) using a multimeter. Take the leads and check both connectors on the motor; if you don’t get a reading this means the motor is not working.

I noticed that the faders that are on my main unit were made in the UK by Penny & Giles. The four that went bad on the Extender were Chinese-made faders (the stickers on them even say “Peny” and not “Penny”). I called Mackie when I got mine to see if they could send UK-made faders and they said they were no longer being manufactured, so the contract went to a Chinese firm to make these (Penny & Giles UK must have realized these weren’t up-to-par with their quality, I guess).

Anyway, I decided after that to look into refurbishing my own faders and have successfully refurbished one that I pulled from my main unit using a product called “DeoxIT Fader Grease” that is meant for plastic potentiometers. It worked great on a fader that was sticking.

I followed the guide with one fader that would stick and found that the black plastic sitting connector that holds the knob (connect the two stringed rods) is broken. I have an original Emagic Logic Control and was wondering (since you said you have a few P+G faders) if you are willing to sell a unit so I can replace it. If you can’t, I guess I can contact Mackie and see if they have any of the parts. Not sure if the newer Mackie Universal controls contain the same parts.

Thank you!

Todd

I have worked a lot with Mackie, their main service center for the U.S. market as well as Penny+Giles engineering teams in a (futile I’d guess…) attempt to redesign these faders to be more rugged, last longer and make them cheaper to produce; don’ think they were interested… LOL Anyway, I’d like to mention a very important omission in your article/write-up above with regard to these units.

Mackie “forced” P+G to make cheap units for them – unlike ANY of P+G’s normal offerings. The NUMBER ONE failure mode for these cheapened up P+G faders is one that I cannot understate. The shaft for which the fader slides back and forth on is of inadequate strength for the application. This shaft is hollow and EASILY BENT. This is the A #1 issue we see with binding faders and/or faders that do not pass calibration.

What CANNOT BE UNDERSTATED IS THE FOLLOWING:

ALWAYS be certain the faders are returned to their default, “all-the-way-down” zero volume position when not in operation! NEVER, EVER set anything, even a small manual, or book on top of the control surface; this is enough to bend the faders’ shafts if they are not all on their stops. Likewise, same goes for leaning your arm on the control surface – bend city…

When transporting one of these units, EVEN in their OEM packaging, be 100% certain the faders are in the down/off position, and then as an added precaution use light tape to carefully and LIGHTLY secure across all of the faders so they cannot move off the bottom stops and escape from the foam that “should” capture them on their bottom stops. The original packaging, while they figured out that if they put foam over the faders’ sweep area and they moved, it ruined the units during shipping; thus the OEM packaging has nothing between the cardboard box and the fader’s surface/sweep area. Be certain when transporting them in the OEM box, NEVER, EVER, EVER put any force, or place any items in the center of the box where, if the fader(s) have moved, the force might be applied to the fader(s) and in turn their shafts that could lead to bending them, for the end result is a ruined, binding fader. The tubular shafts are not easily straightened and the only practical substitution I could ever think of would be to turn a replacement on a lathe – something that negates the cost of simply buying a new “cheap” P+G fader as a replacement that while their construction may certainly be cheap, their replacement cost has become tremendous!

Also of note is lubrication – DON’T DO IT! They should need none and the fader mechanism that slides on the vulnerable shaft has small O-rings at the end of its throw to “cushion” the fader as it is forced either direction to its stops. Lubrication can swell and ruin these O-rings and even if the chosen lubricant does not damage the O-rings themselves, the end result will be that: 1) The lubricant will simply attract dust dirt and crud and cause the fader to bind and fail calibration or use. Or 2) Said lubricant will cause the O-rings to “follow” the fader movement on the shaft, off of the stops, making for an inconsistent feel and movement of the fader near either end of its travel. You can feel and see this behavior in the units when the drag of the fader increases near the stops at either end of its travel as it runs into the O-ring and then must “push” it on the shaft back to its proper end of throw “stop” position. So clean the shafts and fader slide bushing and leave them 100% clean, dry and free of ANY oil, including the oil on your fingers for the best, most trouble-free operation and longevity.

Good luck. I have a few NOS P+G faders here for these units and a few parts for them and the MCU’s/XT’s, so let me know if I can be of any assistance. I would assume the faders and most of the parts for the original gray MCU’s and XT’s are now, or soon will be obsolete.

I have followed the repair guide you posted. Thanks for that. Just one more question. I have a broken fader which basically the string that holds the fader position has come of the motor. Is there a way to wound it back on? I there a default position the fader has to be before wounding the string?

Your help is much appreciated.

Kind Regards

Raffi

Music Marketing Packages