Circuit breaker slop

[King]

Description: some side-to-side play may be a seating problem associated with a weak spring.

I was inspired to check out my circuit breaker (51FL, manual advance, single points) for side play as described in Forthgears"Good One" thread of Jan 18.
I had the breaker disassembled and noted that when I placed the rotating part (the deck that holds the points and condenser) on the housing that bolts to the cases and contains the shaft and rotor, some minor side-to-side slop was present. But the slop disappeared when I secured the assembly with the semi circular spring clip (after adding a bit of tension to it per Cotton's advice to eliminate "retarding creep" during gear changes). So possibly some side-to-side play may be a seating problem associated with a weak spring.
While I was at it, I measured the up and down play on the shaft in relation to its housing. It was about 0.011". Is this too excessive and if so what's the cure?

Thanks

King

[fourthgear]

King
Are you talking about the half moon clip that fits under the rotating assemb. ? I have that in there and it does hold the assemb. from free movement back and forth ( rotating ). Its held on by the cap clip that secures the cap on. My problem as stated earlier was that timer that rotates on the shaft was egg shaped from wear , that c clip hold it pretty securely but, when you have a lot of wear its got a lot of slop , it kept me from getting a consistent point gap (dwell ? ) works good now, every time. snug as a bug in a rug.
Don't have my manual with me but , if you need to adj. the slop in shaft there are shim washers that can be put in between the drive gear and bottom of housing.

[King]

Hi forthgear.

Yes that's the one. I looked in the manual and it's properly called the "Base Retaine" it holds the "base" (the part with the points mounted on it ) to the "stem" (the part that bolts into the case) and grounds them to each other in the process. The base retainer is held in place by the "cover retainer" that wire bail that clips the cover in place.
The problem you had is mentioned there too. It states : "Try circuit breaker base on stem for free turning but not loose fit. If base has too much clearance on stem, the circuit breaker point gap will vary as the base is shifted for spark control. If base is found excessively worn or damaged in any way, renew it". Of course mbskeam's solution can fix that.
The book says any end pay in excess of 0.008 is too much so I will have to fix that by installing a thicker shaft washer.

King