Puck advance system

Salmonsmoker · January 11, 2014, 08:45:39 AM

Quote from: renoman on January 11, 2014, 08:34:21 AM
Quote from: Salmonsmoker on January 11, 2014, 08:07:49 AM
reno, it sounds like there is a rough spot or a sharp square corner on the puck pusher that's making it scratch the paint off. I'd inspect it and dress any rough areas on the contact surfaces and smooth out the scratched area. Then I'd use a dry lubricant like spray silicone or graphite on the runway and pusher.

Salmonsmoker, I took the whole mechanism apart to see what was rubbing. There really isn't any sort of guides for the puck pusher. It just kinda rides in there and is held in place by a little brass arm in the long slotted hole. Everything is loose and nothing is binding but the metal just runs on the metal so there is going to be some sort of rubbing somewhere. I sprayed some silicone in there but it still makes a grinding noise every once in awhile.

I bought my 6-rack when they first came out. I blow out the wood chips with air, but I've never had mine apart. It's worked without problem since new, so this thread has been interesting for me to follow as I'm sure I'll have a problem eventually.

renoman · January 13, 2014, 10:23:07 AM

I spoke with Bradley Customer service this morning. The fellow was extremely helpful. They are sending me a new micro switch and motor. I hope this will solve my problem. I will post back when I receive the parts.

Saber 4 · January 13, 2014, 11:14:08 AM

Quote from: renoman on January 13, 2014, 10:23:07 AM
I spoke with Bradley Customer service this morning. The fellow was extremely helpful. They are sending me a new micro switch and motor. I hope this will solve my problem. I will post back when I receive the parts.

There may be problems with some of our smokers but you can't fault their customer service.

renoman · January 13, 2014, 01:46:34 PM

Quote from: Saber 4 on January 13, 2014, 11:14:08 AM
Quote from: renoman on January 13, 2014, 10:23:07 AM
I spoke with Bradley Customer service this morning. The fellow was extremely helpful. They are sending me a new micro switch and motor. I hope this will solve my problem. I will post back when I receive the parts.

There may be problems with some of our smokers but you can't fault their customer service.

I totally agree Both the U.S. and Canada people have been very easy to work with.

renoman · January 16, 2014, 12:38:30 PM

Well I received my new motor/arm assembly and micro switch from Bradley today. Talked to them on Monday AM and got the delivery at noon on Thursday. Pretty quick I would say.

New motor

To my surprise though they sent me the wrong switch. The one they sent has 3 wires and the one I need has 2. Called them up and another one is on the way.

Being the impatient guy that I am I decided to make the new switch work. The harnesses were soldered so out came the soldering iron and solder.

Here is the old harness soldered on to the new switch. The "normally closed" terminal on the new switch is not needed so I just put some heat shrink tube on it. In the old switch it is cut off inside of the switch.

Put the new switch and old harness back into it's spot on the puck advancer. Don't forget the spacer as it makes the switch line up with the brass roller on the arm assembly.

So I plugged it all back in and gave it a try. VOILA! Pushed the button at least 25 times and not a failure. I am a happy camper and back in business. So now I start thinking just what was the matter with the old switch. I pulled it apart to have a look.

In these close ups of the contact points you can see SOME pitting but VERY little. I have seen contacts that have been way worse than this that have still worked but I just can't see anything else in the switch that could be causing the problem.

So after watching the thing perform flawlessly for many more times I noticed something and remembered what Brian from Bradley had written in our email exchange. I quote:"Now you have to keep in mind you are dealing with a small motor they will never stop in the same position each time especially when it is under load. If the motor does not stop directly on the micro switch the next time you turn it on it will advance once. If it stopped directly on the switch it will not advance at start up. The motor is designed to run in either direction this is for motor protection, if there is a jam in the system the motor will turn and run the opposite direction if it jams again it will send an E error and shut down. This is why sometimes the motor runs clockwise or counter clockwise." End quote. I didn't really understand what he was trying to say but now when the motor stops it never stops exactly on the switch. It is either on one side or the other as you can see in this pic.

In this pic from the old setup you can see that the motor arm would stop right on top of the switch and that happened many times.

So I am not sure what exactly I have learned other than how to strip down your Bradley SG and never to grab the puck element after it has been plugged in for 10 minutes. But I am back in business and want to thank Bradley and Brian for their help and very speedy service.

On edit: I did not install the new motor.

Smoker John · January 16, 2014, 12:45:28 PM

Thanks for sharing your info, great pictures as well. Hopefully your issue is solved, keep smokin'.

Smokesmore · January 16, 2014, 01:08:55 PM

You're intense, renoman. Glad your up and running again.

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renoman · January 16, 2014, 01:18:58 PM

Quote from: Smokesmore on January 16, 2014, 01:08:55 PM
You're intense, renoman. Glad your up and running again.

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When things don't work it drives me nuts ;D

RedJada · January 16, 2014, 02:54:27 PM

Good stuff. Glad you got everything working. Time to start smoking something....

STLstyle · January 16, 2014, 04:38:27 PM

Renoman,
I was smoking cheese last night, checked the smoker about halfway into my cook and the third puck was sitting on the element close to an hour. I then advanced with he button and it worked the rest of the smoke. I wonder why I'm getting consecutive failures? Mine works most of the time, but when one gets "stuck" it stays there until I hit the button. Very frustrating...

renoman · January 16, 2014, 05:25:35 PM

Quote from: STLstyle on January 16, 2014, 04:38:27 PM
Renoman,
I was smoking cheese last night, checked the smoker about halfway into my cook and the third puck was sitting on the element close to an hour. I then advanced with he button and it worked the rest of the smoke. I wonder why I'm getting consecutive failures? Mine works most of the time, but when one gets "stuck" it stays there until I hit the button. Very frustrating...

Did it advance with one push of the button or numerous? If you watch my video you will see that it sometimes took four tries before it moved. That amounts to 80 minutes if you are relying on the 20 minute auto feeder.

Smokesmore · January 17, 2014, 10:14:47 AM

A bit off subject but nonetheless have to do with the puck advance system. When you advance a puck to smoke does the smoker automatically reset to 20 minutes until the next puck is advanced?

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renoman · January 17, 2014, 12:15:02 PM

Quote from: Smokesmore on January 17, 2014, 10:14:47 AM
A bit off subject but nonetheless have to do with the puck advance system. When you advance a puck to smoke does the smoker automatically reset to 20 minutes until the next puck is advanced?

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We touched on this a bit. I believe it resets to 20 minutes. I have 6 dummy pucks on the way to put this question to rest. As well as some others.

Smokesmore · January 17, 2014, 12:18:09 PM

Just confirmed on the BDS it does pucks every 20 min no matter if you manually feed or not. When the timer hits 20, 40, 1 hour the advance goes.. I fed one in and 5 mins later it fed another because the smoke timer said 2:20.

Edit: FYI... used about 20 ft of Reynolds tinfoil and molded some dummy pucks. It worked like a charm. Takes a little man power to squeeze them but the bradley fed them without a problem.

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Jkwellborn · January 27, 2014, 07:05:11 PM

Quote from: renoman on January 16, 2014, 12:38:30 PM

To my surprise though they sent me the wrong switch. The one they sent has 3 wires and the one I need has 2.

So I am not sure what exactly I have learned other than how to strip down your Bradley SG and never to grab the puck element after it has been plugged in for 10 minutes. But I am back in business and want to thank Bradley and Brian for their help and very speedy service.

I think the 3 wired switches are for the newer ones. I am pretty sure the pic you posted was the same as the one I have on mine.

And yeah, that puck burner gets pretty warm.