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#1
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Resetting Winter Vario to Zero?
I have a Winter variometer that works great except that at rest it
reads high (+1.5). While that makes me feel good in flight, I'd rather zero the thing out. The question is how to do this. I have been told two different ways to do this; 1) Find the zero adjustment - I removed the face plate but cannot find the adjustment. Any ideas? 2) One person mentioned that over time the needle looses weight. Because these devices are so sensitive the needle reads high. The idea then is to add back the lost weight. This person recommended a small dab of finger nail polish. The last choice is to send it back to the factory which I would rather avoid. Thanks. |
#2
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Resetting Winter Vario to Zero?
I think the nail polish idea has merit.
If you want to go with the mechanical adjustment, you will need to remove the glass face and then unscrew the small plate covering the base of the needle. Once this plate is removed, you will see a serrated circular adjustment ring which you can rotate to adjust zero. You need to be careful with this plate, as a small movement makes a significant adjustment to zero. ContestID67 wrote: I have a Winter variometer that works great except that at rest it reads high (+1.5). While that makes me feel good in flight, I'd rather zero the thing out. The question is how to do this. I have been told two different ways to do this; 1) Find the zero adjustment - I removed the face plate but cannot find the adjustment. Any ideas? 2) One person mentioned that over time the needle looses weight. Because these devices are so sensitive the needle reads high. The idea then is to add back the lost weight. This person recommended a small dab of finger nail polish. The last choice is to send it back to the factory which I would rather avoid. Thanks. |
#3
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Resetting Winter Vario to Zero?
I think the nail polish idea has merit.
If you want to go with the mechanical adjustment, you will need to remove the glass face and then unscrew the small plate covering the base of the needle. Once this plate is removed, you will see a serrated circular adjustment ring which you can rotate to adjust zero. You need to be careful with this plate, as a small movement makes a significant adjustment to zero. ContestID67 wrote: I have a Winter variometer that works great except that at rest it reads high (+1.5). While that makes me feel good in flight, I'd rather zero the thing out. The question is how to do this. I have been told two different ways to do this; 1) Find the zero adjustment - I removed the face plate but cannot find the adjustment. Any ideas? 2) One person mentioned that over time the needle looses weight. Because these devices are so sensitive the needle reads high. The idea then is to add back the lost weight. This person recommended a small dab of finger nail polish. The last choice is to send it back to the factory which I would rather avoid. Thanks. |
#4
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Resetting Winter Vario to Zero?
ContestID67 wrote: I have a Winter variometer that works great except that at rest it reads high (+1.5). While that makes me feel good in flight, I'd rather zero the thing out. The question is how to do this. I have been told two different ways to do this; 1) Find the zero adjustment - I removed the face plate but cannot find the adjustment. Any ideas? 2) One person mentioned that over time the needle looses weight. Because these devices are so sensitive the needle reads high. The idea then is to add back the lost weight. This person recommended a small dab of finger nail polish. The last choice is to send it back to the factory which I would rather avoid. Thanks. Reply. Use a SMALL dab of epoxy to rebalance. anything that dries changes weight as it dries. DO NOT turn zeroing plate. Good luck UH |
#5
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Resetting Winter Vario to Zero?
I was given the following information via email.
"I have tried both methods of re-zeroing a winter vario. The adjustment wheel's behind the little winter emblem...loosen the small screw and it will rotate out of the way and you can get to it. But, it is easy to bend things you should not bend. I prefer the small (very small!!!) drop of clear fingernail polish. Get the brush almost dry before you touch the needle. It doesn't take much. After it dries, recheck the zero...as the evaporation of the solvent in the polish will change the finished weight." |
#6
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Resetting Winter Vario to Zero?
Another piece of information via email.
"Adjustment screw is used to get spring balance to zero needle when face is up. Then equal flow gives same reading up and down. They actually have balance arms on opposite side of needle to balance, but adjusting these usually leads to breaking the .003 diameter pivots. Wanna guess how I know all this?" |
#7
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Resetting Winter Vario to Zero?
Found an old usenet thread on the same subject.
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.a...205f0c 9e254a |
#8
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Resetting Winter Vario to Zero?
To add some more details to this thread for historic purposes, I wanted
to let you know how I built a tool to remove the ring holding the glass to the front. I found some scrap aluminum that was as thin as the slot in the ring. A steel ruler would work also but the aluminum is softer and less likely to mar the face of the vario. I sandwiched the thin aluminum between two pieces of pine board, holding it together with small C clamps. Allow the aluminum to stick out from between the boards by no more than 1mm (1/16"), or 1/2 the depth of the slot. This combination gives some mass to the "tool" and the wood won't mar the face of the vario. Take the tool in one hand, the vario in the other (over something soft just in case it drops), engage the slots, and turn the tool CCW. Worked like a champ. |
#9
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Resetting Winter Vario to Zero?
Todd,
Which system did you like the best? Nail polish, epoxy or screw adjustment? I am opting for the nail polish approach right now as I think that I can control the amount I am adding of the thin nail polish rather than the thick epoxy. I assume that the weight of the epoxy doesn't vary as it dries and thus it only takes once to get it right. The nail polish on the other hand, being highly evaporative, changes weight and may take a few goes to get the right amount after drying. I have time, I can wait (no pun intended). The screw adjustment method just plain scares me. - John |
#10
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Resetting Winter Vario to Zero?
"ContestID67" wrote in news:1143413733.258492.60400
@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com: I have a Winter variometer that works great except that at rest it reads high (+1.5). While that makes me feel good in flight, I'd rather zero the thing out. The question is how to do this. I have been told two different ways to do this; 1) Find the zero adjustment - I removed the face plate but cannot find the adjustment. Any ideas? 2) One person mentioned that over time the needle looses weight. Because these devices are so sensitive the needle reads high. The idea then is to add back the lost weight. This person recommended a small dab of finger nail polish. The last choice is to send it back to the factory which I would rather avoid. Thanks. Had this issue last summer - turned screw - easy - no problems. -- Roger Kelly to reply replace the IP address above with ceressenior.com *** Free account sponsored by SecureIX.com *** *** Encrypt your Internet usage with a free VPN account from http://www.SecureIX.com *** |
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