Instructions for the Black Widow Paddle

Instructions for the PFR3 Baby Black Widow Paddle

Introduction

Thank you for purchasing the Baby Black Widow portable paddle. You will find it is a high quality product that will give you many years of good service. Before assembling the paddle, please read through the instructions to insure you understand the order of finishing and assembly.

Inventory

Before continuing, it is a good idea to inventory the parts. The machined parts come wrapped in paper towels to cushion them and to keep them from cutting the envelope. The two small coin envelopes contain the smaller hardware. Figure 1 and 2 shows a picture of the parts.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Quantity	Description

1	Base (Anodized machined part)
1	Front Bracket (Anodized machined part)
1	Stop (brass machined part)
2	Arm (brass machined part)
2	Contact Post (brass machined part)
1	Tension bar (brass machined part)
2	4-40 x 5/8 inch Socket Head Silver Plated screws
2	4-40 x 5/8 inch Socket Head Black Oxide screws
4	4-40 x 1/4 inch Socket Black Oxide screws
2	4-40 x 1/4 inch silver plated brass pan head screws
4	4-40 x 1/4 inch zinc plated pan head screws
5	4-40 x 1/2 inch brass pan head screws
2	4-40 brass hex nuts
3	4-40 x 3/8 inch flat head stainless steel screws
2	#4 stainless steel inside star lock washer
6	Red knurled heads for #4 socket head screws
2	Finger pieces – Red
4	3/16 inch stainless steel balls
4	0.200 x 0.44 inch plastic feet
4	#4 x 0.063 inch nylon shoulder washer
3	#4 ground lugs
2	4-40 x 0.590 inch brass hex standoffs
1	1/8 inch stereo plug
1	3/16 inch x ¾ inch compression spring
2	3/16 inch x ¼ inch compression spring
2	2 inch #30 Silver Plated bus wire
1	4 inch Teflon covered Silver Plated wire (not pictured)

Table 1

Before opening the parts, locate 2 plastic or glass bowls to hold the small parts. Open the envelopes and place the parts in the bowls to keep them from rolling all over the place. Using Figure 1 and Table 1, inventory the parts. If you find a few extra parts, consider it your lucky day! If you are short a part, contacts us right away and we will make sure we get you the part(s) fast. It is a good idea to keep the small envelopes just in case some small part is hidden inside. See Figures 3, 4, 5.

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Subassembly

Before proceeding with finishing or assembly, you will need to do a small amount of subassembly. First, you will need to press the Red knurled heads onto the 6 socket screws. There are 2 Black 5/8 inch long socket head screws, 2 Black ¼ inch socket head screws, and 2 Silver Plated 5/8 inch socket head screws (see Figure 6). Thread the socket head screw into one of the brass hex spacers. Using a vice or similar device, carefully press the Red knurled heads onto the socket screws as is shown in Figure 7.

Figure 6

Figure 7

When you have pressed all the Red knurled heads onto all the screws you should have a set of parts that look like those in Figure 8.

Figure 8

Finishing

The brass parts are now ready for sanding and finishing (see the paddle finishing document). Before continuing with the assembly, you need to decide what type of finish you want on the brass and complete it. Before starting the final assembly, allow plenty of drying time for whatever clear coating you use to cover the brass.

Assembly

Welcome back from the finishing process. I hope your finish turned out the way you wanted it. We are now ready to begin the assembly. In about an hour or so, you will be on the air sending some of the smoothest code you have ever sent! Let’s get started!

Select a flat table or work bench to do the final assembly. Set the base in front of you on a soft cloth (towel, etc.). Orientate it the same as Figure 9 below. Using a large diameter drill (3/8 inch works well) deburr the holes shown in Figures 9 and 10. Figure 9 shows the base top and Figure 10 shows the base bottom. Note that only 2 holes are deburred on the bottom side (figure 10). Do not remove a large amount of material. Only remove a small amount.

Figure 9

Figure 10

Next, you will insert the nylon insulators. Locate the 4 white nylon insulators from the “P” bag. These insulators are a press fit into the holes shown in Figures 11 and 12.

Figure 11

Figure 12

Locate the 4 black soft plastic feet. The feet have a pressure adhesive on the back side. Peal the black feet from the paper strip and press them in place on the bottom side of the base as is shown in Figure 13. Press down hard on each foot to insure the adhesive “sets.”

Figure 13

Locate the following parts:

2	brass contact posts
2	4-40 x 5/8 inch Silver Plated screws with red caps
2	4-40 brass nuts

Assemble the parts as is shown in Figure 14.

Figure 14

Mount the contact posts as is shown in Figure 15 below. For hardware, use two 4-40 x ½ inch brass screws and two #4 ground lugs. Orient the contacts and ground lugs as shown in Figures 15 and 16.

Figure 15

Figure 16

Locate the following parts shown in Figure 17:

1	brass stop
1	4-40 x ½ inch brass screw
1	#4 inside star lock washer

Mount the stop as shown in Figures 18 and 19. Leave the screw lose at this time.

Figure 17

Figure 18

Figure 19

Locate the following parts as is shown in Figure 20:

2	brass hex spacer
2	4-40 x ½ inch brass screw
1	#4 inside star lock washer
1	#4 ground lug

Install the parts as is shown in Figure 21 and 22. Make sure the ground lug makes good contact with metal of the base (the ground lug goes under the screw of the side where the anodizing has been ground away).

Figure 20

Figure 21

Figure 22

Locate the following parts as shown in Figure 23:

2	round red paddle fingers
2	brass arms
2	4-40 x ¼ inch Silver Plated pan head screw
4	4-40 x ¼ inch zinc plated pan head screws
2	Silver Plated wires

Assemble the parts as is shown in Figure 24. Be careful with the small wires. Notice that the wires extend out into different directions from one another forming a right hand paddle and a left hand paddle.

Figure 23

Figure 24

Using the large drill bit, deburr the holes where the ball bearings will ride. The drill bit points to the hole in Figure 25 below.

Figure 25

Locate the following parts as shown in Figure 26:

1	brass tension bar
2	4-40 x 5/8 inch black oxide red cap screws
2	3/16 inch x ¼ inch long compression spring

Slide the springs over the cap screws as is shown in Figure 26.

Figure 26

It is now time to start the final assembly. Some people may claim you need at least three hands, believe me it can be done with only two! Place the two of the stainless steel ball bearing on the holes in the base as is shown in Figure 27.

Figure 27

Place the arm subassemblies on the base as shown in Figure 28. Make sure the small Silver Plated wires go through the two holes in the base as shown. The arms should sit on the two ball bearings. Place the two remaining ball bearings on the top of the arms as shown.

Figure 28

While holding the arms with one hand, place the tension bar over the ball bearings and fix the tension bar to the hex spacers using the 5/8 long red cap screws as shown in Figure 29. Do not over tighten the screws. The arms should be able to move freely but without undo “slop.”

Figure 29

If everything is assembled correctly, the bottom of the paddle should look like Figure 30.

Figure 30

Locate the long compression spring. Cut it to a length of 5/8 inch long.

Refer to Figure 31. Inserting the spring return has given many people problems. I have found a trick which helps a lot. Temporarily remove the stop. With the removal of the stop, you can pinch the end of the arms together exposing the spring holes. Pick up the spring and compress it slightly with a pair of small needle nose pliers. While pinching the arms together, insert the spring. Gently release the spring and pray it stays!

Reinstall the stop. Tighten all hardware.

Figure 31

Locate the following parts:

1	front bracket
1	1/8 inch stereo plug
3	4-40 x 3/8 inch flat head screws

Thread the 1/8 inch stereo plug into the bracket as is shown in Figure 32.

Figure 32

Attach the front bracket to the base using the three flat head screws as shown in Figure 33.

Figure 33

Prepare two Teflon covered wires by cutting them to 2 inch each, stripping the ends 1/8 inch and tinning each end with solder. See Figure 34.

Figure 34

Solder each wire to a ground lug on the bottom of the paddle base as shown in Figure 36. Push the two wires through the hole in the base and twist the wires together as is shown in Figure 35. Solder the wires to the two contacts on the stereo plug. Please note that standard convention is as follows. The tip is used for dots and the ring is used for dashes. Typically the paddle finger under your thumb is used for sending dots. For a right handed person this will be on the left of the paddle (assuming the paddle fingers are facing you). For a left handed person the paddle finger on the right side would be used to send dots. Now to get really confusing, many left handed operators learned how to send code with a right handed paddle. If that is the case, just reverse everything I just stated. J

Figure 35

Solder the two ground wires as shown in Figure 36.

Figure 36

You are now done with the assembly of the paddle. It is time to make some adjustments. First open up the spacing of the contact wide. Next, check the movement of the arms on the bearing. The arms should move freely without any binding. The tension bar can be adjusted using the two red cap black oxide screws. The compression of each spring should be equal. Next, adjust the spacing of the contacts by screwing in/out the red cap contact screw. Once the spacing has been set, you are ready to try the paddle out. If you have a Hendricks PFR-3 transceiver, plug the paddle into the transceiver. Using the two ¼ inch long red cap screws, attach the paddle to the transceiver.

If you would like to use the paddle for some other radio, you will need to obtain a stereo cable with a 1/8 inch female stereo socket on one end and a plug of your choice on the other end. The female 1/8 inch socket attaches to the paddle and the other end connects to your keyer or radio. The following Figures show what the completed paddle show look like.

Figure 37

Figure 38

73, Jerry W5JH