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Step 8Altering One of the Spools
Of the two spools that you removed from the Gametrak one has the electrical board on it and one does not. For this next step we'll be altering the spool without the board. I'll refer to this as the secondary spool. The goal for this step will be to turn the secondary spool into a contained pulley by removing it's internal spring and wound wire and cutting an opening in its side.
The first step of this process is the messiest and most dangerous part of the entire project, removing the spring. The spool's tension is created by a tightly wound steel spring at the spool's center. This spring is coated in an incredibly slick and messy grease, is under great pressure, and has incredibly sharp edges. When you attempt to remove it, be sure to do so with some protective gloves and in an open location (i.e., not your work bench or any place with things that could get knocked over when the spring shoots out.) Begin by unscrewing the four screws which keep the spool together. When doing this be careful to keep the top and bottom halves squeezed together since they may quickly spring apart when they begin to separate. Once you have the screws remove, slowly take the spool apart, making sure to open it away from yourself. Once the spring has shot out, carefully discard of it's tangled remains, but take caution, since it may continue to sporadically uncoil even once removed from the spool. Now remove the plastic wire and set it aside. We'll be using it later.
The secondary spool should now be in three parts, the inner spool, the spool casing top (with the potentiometer), and the spool casing bottom (with a bunch of grease in it). We'll be working with the spool casing bottom. First, you'll be tempted to clean out all of the grease to make your job a bit cleaner, but I'd recommend against doing this. I did it with mine and the resulting action turned out to be a bit sticky and jerky. The first step, instead, will be to cut the small appendage off of the bottom half. This appendage is there to guide the wire out of the spool and you should leave it in place on the primary spool for just that reason, but on the secondary spool it's redundant and will get in the way. I used a fine hacksaw to trim this off. Next, I used the same saw to create an opening in the side wall of the bottom half large enough for the wire to exit the spool casing and once it has looped through the original opening. Take a look at the pictures below to get a better idea for what you're trying to accomplish with this step. The goal is to leave the spool in tact enough so that it can still screw back together but to create an opening wide enough that the wire won't wear against the edges.
The first step of this process is the messiest and most dangerous part of the entire project, removing the spring. The spool's tension is created by a tightly wound steel spring at the spool's center. This spring is coated in an incredibly slick and messy grease, is under great pressure, and has incredibly sharp edges. When you attempt to remove it, be sure to do so with some protective gloves and in an open location (i.e., not your work bench or any place with things that could get knocked over when the spring shoots out.) Begin by unscrewing the four screws which keep the spool together. When doing this be careful to keep the top and bottom halves squeezed together since they may quickly spring apart when they begin to separate. Once you have the screws remove, slowly take the spool apart, making sure to open it away from yourself. Once the spring has shot out, carefully discard of it's tangled remains, but take caution, since it may continue to sporadically uncoil even once removed from the spool. Now remove the plastic wire and set it aside. We'll be using it later.
The secondary spool should now be in three parts, the inner spool, the spool casing top (with the potentiometer), and the spool casing bottom (with a bunch of grease in it). We'll be working with the spool casing bottom. First, you'll be tempted to clean out all of the grease to make your job a bit cleaner, but I'd recommend against doing this. I did it with mine and the resulting action turned out to be a bit sticky and jerky. The first step, instead, will be to cut the small appendage off of the bottom half. This appendage is there to guide the wire out of the spool and you should leave it in place on the primary spool for just that reason, but on the secondary spool it's redundant and will get in the way. I used a fine hacksaw to trim this off. Next, I used the same saw to create an opening in the side wall of the bottom half large enough for the wire to exit the spool casing and once it has looped through the original opening. Take a look at the pictures below to get a better idea for what you're trying to accomplish with this step. The goal is to leave the spool in tact enough so that it can still screw back together but to create an opening wide enough that the wire won't wear against the edges.
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