Wheel assembly scraping sound

[mennohvandijk]

I've got the following problem,



The left wheel assembly makes a scraping sound when you fully compress it down. This is only the last 20 mm of travel. The spring is still attached on either side. The right wheel doesn't have this scraping sound, nor did the left one have it before today.

It happened yesterday when I let it clean my house. When I got home it was on the rug and said it's brush was stuck (which was clear, just has a hard time running on the rug (gotten worse since I first got it, i've put down magnetic tape to stop the neato from cleaning it)).

Any advice? I've had it for just 1 month, and it's been running great so far....

[craigbla]

Mine is also doing that and is about 1 month old - runs fine. Definitely not the rubber tire scraping - seems like the arm or something connected to it. Maybe it's normal but it feels odd...

[mennohvandijk]

That's what I experience too. Runs just fine. But ofcourse, it shouldn't be doing it.

I can't really figure out what is scraping, but I'm pretty sure it's the black plastic from the wheel assembly hitting the spring. I'll try reattaching the spring and see if that helps (remounted it on the wheel side but that didnt work).

[c.mueller]

Is the wheel scraping at the battery compartment lid?

[glnc222]

Replace the unit for mfg defect. The case has defective molding in the wheel arm shaft mounting creating a slight angle, and it requires precision parts with small clearances. You might fix it with washer shims or something but not what you paid for.

[mennohvandijk]

Is the wheel scraping at the battery compartment lid?

nope, it's clear of that

[mennohvandijk]

Replace the unit for mfg defect. The case has defective molding in the wheel arm shaft mounting creating a slight angle, and it requires precision parts with small clearances. You might fix it with washer shims or something but not what you paid for.

I didnt have it during the first weeks of running, just happened recently. So a factory mismould seems unlikely.

[craigbla]

I can't tell what it's hitting but it's not the battery compartment. I don't see any scratches either. The other wheel moves freely.

[glnc222]

There's another case the same in old threads. There is very tight paper thin clearance between the wheel and surrounding plastic well in the case, so the tiniest shaft mounting difference can cause scraping, as well as any deformity in the wheel arm itself and it's pivot shaft mounting, if the wheel on the end is scraping. You could try just reseating the wheel arm in it's snap fit socket. You might just scrape a bit off part of the wheel arm or the well, polish the pivot shaft, or use a very thin copper type washer as shim on the shaft to push slightly sideways. Regular flat washers are rather thick, but there are thinner ones in specialty hardware section in some stores. Scraping only when near full depression into the well shows how an angle is involved and very small tolerances. The problem is locating exactly where the scrape is and what direction to shift with such small dimensions.

[craigbla]

I bought it from Costco so I guess I'll swap it out and check the new one right away.

[mennohvandijk]

There's another case the same in old threads. There is very tight paper thin clearance between the wheel and surrounding plastic well in the case, so the tiniest shaft mounting difference can cause scraping, as well as any deformity in the wheel arm itself and it's pivot shaft mounting, if the wheel on the end is scraping. You could try just reseating the wheel arm in it's snap fit socket. You might just scrape a bit off part of the wheel arm or the well, polish the pivot shaft, or use a very thin copper type washer as shim on the shaft to push slightly sideways. Regular flat washers are rather thick, but there are thinner ones in specialty hardware section in some stores. Scraping only when near full depression into the well shows how an angle is involved and very small tolerances. The problem is locating exactly where the scrape is and what direction to shift with such small dimensions.

I'll try to fix it, else I'll return it. Thanks for the info!

[glnc222]

When recently reassembling the XV-11 from modification work, the screw on one of the wheels, which protrudes farthest out of the wheel, was scraping against the aluminum battery compartment heat sink edge, which protrudes a bit beyond the plastic cover and has a sharp edge. The fault is some play in the wheel assembly pivot shaft through the hole in the assembly plastic -- perhaps worn from my habit of releasing it by twisting out instead of pulling the shaft (required since the suspension spring fastening was moved from the case bottom into the top). There could also be some weakening of the clip for the shaft on the case, hard to tell. The suspension spring pulls the wheel in slightly against the side if not resisted by the pivot shaft. Whatever, it was fixed by filing a notch in the outer edge of the heat sink where the screw head passes. Avoid leaving metal dust.