sotar 20/20 problem

L

leaky hose

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Have a new sotar and having an problem that has me stumped. when I try to loosen the needle chuck to remove needle for a wipe down the part that house's the spring turns along with it, I have to use a fine jewels screw driver to hold it from turning along with the chuck. I have tried putting the chuck on with minimal tightness but it makes no difference . The chuck is not cross threaded, any suggestions?
 
I have the same problem with my 150. Very irritating. I've even stopped using lube on the spring guide threads and plenty on the needle chuck but it still undos the whole thing.
 
I usually just stick a finger on the spring retainer with a tad bit of pressure and unscrew the chucking nut with my other hand. Of course if you are trying to do it with the handle still on the Sotar, that is not gonna work. You can try two things - first is screw the spring retainer all the way in. It should stop before making it deep enough to stop the trigger from working. Once it hits bottom, it will tighten in the threads. You can then adjust spring tension by unscrewing the very back of the spring retainer a few turns. If you do not want to screw the retainer/guide that far in, try putting a turn or two of teflon tape on the unit before screwing it in - should snug things up enough to keep things in place.
 
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just behind the trigger there is a slot. I have to place a flat blade or screwdriver in there to stop everything turning when undoing the chuck nut.

Lee
 
just behind the trigger there is a slot. I have to place a flat blade or screwdriver in there to stop everything turning when undoing the chuck nut.

Lee
I see the slot, will try that thank you!
 
The part you are having trouble with Badger calls a tube shank. It's supposed to be tightened all the way. Then it won't turn when you loosen the needle chuck. It's used on most Badger models. There is a tension adjust at the rear of the tube shank, but on the 150 there is virtually no adjustment range. There's a photo and explanation on this page.

Don
 
I think the tube shank is how you adjust the needle spring tension, same as on other brush brands. I don't think supposed to be screwed all the way in tight unless you want the trigger pull to be as heavy as possible.

I usually remove the handle if I want to unscrew the chuck. With the handle off, you can just pinch the tube shank with the thumb and index finger of the hand holding the body while you unscrew the chuck with the other hand.

Of course, I also chop the plastic bulbs off the back of my SOTAR needles. If one doesn't do this, the handle can't be removed without removing the needle first. I highly recommend chopping the bulb off the needle for a variety of reasons. IMO it's a bad design element that buys 1 or 2 negligible/unlikely to be used advantages with several severe/highly likely to be encountered disadvantages.

If your needles are bulb-intact, you can just pinch the bub with the hand holding the brush while turning the chuck with the other. The needle tube is bound to the needle as long as the chuck is tight enough to grip the needle, and it's the tube that's transferring rotation from the chuck to the shank, so if you immobilize the needle itself, that will immobilize the whole part chain. If the tube or shank rotates independent of the needle while rotating the chuck, that means the chuck is already loose enough that you can remove the needle.

Either way, it's simpler than sticking something in the trigger slot, and doesn't require you to keep an extra tool at hand.

If you chop the bulb off the needle, this also enables you to remove the needle by removing the head and pushing the needle through the front instead of pulling it out the back. I prefer to do it this way as it removes the risk of dragging paint gunk into the back mechanisms of the brush (think about it: if the packing isn't wiping the needle enough to make wiping it after removing redundant, that means you've also just wiped paint all through the mechanism by pulling the needle out through the back).
 
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