finished up me cube and can pass along some info:
i completely dismantled mine, (not so easy, as arca took some design shortcuts making assembly easier than dis-assembly) i added a few holes so some buried screws are now accessible and replaced some pesky little e-clips with a setscrew to retain two tiny little shafts. my cube was an early model with slippery knobs using 2 O-rings on each knob for grip. i replaced those with homemade knurled knobs...
tweaked the fit of all the arc'd sliding parts and applied a thin grease to only those areas and the bearing areas for the drive shafts (left the actual gear rack dry, as i don't want grease there to collect grit.)
also to the base tilt mechanism sliding surfaces, which slides back and forth as you add the major base tilt
the friction wheels now work perfectly; turning them to the (-) direction simply disengages any additional braking. turning to the (+) direction all the way starts to put pressure on the nylon brake shoe which presses on the 1/2" wide arc'd surface, eventually enough pressure to hold it as a lock. no lubrication on the braking surfaces!
i completely dismantled mine, (not so easy, as arca took some design shortcuts making assembly easier than dis-assembly) i added a few holes so some buried screws are now accessible and replaced some pesky little e-clips with a setscrew to retain two tiny little shafts. my cube was an early model with slippery knobs using 2 O-rings on each knob for grip. i replaced those with homemade knurled knobs...
tweaked the fit of all the arc'd sliding parts and applied a thin grease to only those areas and the bearing areas for the drive shafts (left the actual gear rack dry, as i don't want grease there to collect grit.)
also to the base tilt mechanism sliding surfaces, which slides back and forth as you add the major base tilt
the friction wheels now work perfectly; turning them to the (-) direction simply disengages any additional braking. turning to the (+) direction all the way starts to put pressure on the nylon brake shoe which presses on the 1/2" wide arc'd surface, eventually enough pressure to hold it as a lock. no lubrication on the braking surfaces!
