Assemble

Putting it all together

Step 1. Fit and attach the blade

For this part of the assembly you will need the black hot-melt glue (included with your power meter), a mixing stick, heat gun, power meter shaft, and your blade.

Note that shims may have been supplied with your power meter allowing you to adapt your blades to fit the shaft. These shims are to be glued to your blades first, allowing for a snug fit to the shaft.

A. Identify the blade end of the shaft

B. Apply glue to the blade spigot

give the glue stick some direct heat for a bit first

dab the glue stick on the spigot

use the stick to spread the glue evenly around the spigot

C. Attach and align the blade

While the glue is warm and malleable, insert the blade spigot into the blade end of your power meter shaft. Align the blade and shaft using the LED light placement and the end of the blade.

If your blade has a 'front face' (the face that receives the force of the water), make sure it is this face that is aligned with the LED.

D. Clean up

Any excess glue can easily be removed with a bit of direct heat and a swipe or two of a rag with turpentine.

Step 2. Waterproof the blade join

Corrosion is a natural enemy of any electronic product. Although fully-waterproofed, we want to limit the exposure of the internal surface of the load cell to salt water where at all possible. As One Giant Leap has no control over the quality of the hot melt glued bond that joins the blade to the shaft (as this task is performed by the end user), we recommended all customers to seal this joint with a combination of amalgamating tape and heat-shrink. Both the amalgamating tape and heat-shrink have been supplied with your Power Meter

A. Apply amalgamate

Peel the white backing from the amalgamating tape. Wrap the tape around the blade join, stretching it out as you do so. Stretching the tape allows the tape to amalgamate while compressing over the blade join.

B. Apply heat shrink

Slide the section of heat-shrink tubing onto the shaft and center it over amalgamating tape.

Using a heat gun, evenly heat the heat-shrink until it tightly wraps the shaft, smooth without ripples.

Step 3. Fit and attach handle

For this part of the assembly you'll need the black hot-melt glue stick, mixing stick, heat gun, power meter shaft with attached blade, and your handle

A. Measure paddle length

Test fit the handle and shaft, setting the handle to the correct position to achieve the desired paddle length. Ensure that there is at least 75mm of handle spigot inserted into the shaft.

If the paddle is too long and inserting the handle all of the way into the sleeve doesn't allow you to achieve your desired length, now is the time to shorten your power meter. OGL recommends trimming the sleeve section of the shaft (the section of shaft that the handle slips into). The sleeve is a replaceable component of your power meter shaft and you can purchase un-cut sleeves from OGL if you want to restore your power meter back to full length.

If your power meter has an adjustable clamp fitted, you will need to remove the sleeve from the shaft and trim the glued end of the spigot. (refer to the Advanced guide on removing your sleeve). If no clamp is fitted, you can trim the handle end of the sleeve without having to remove it from the shaft.

Clamp sleeve to be removed before trimming

Without a clamp fitted, the shaft can be trimmed at the handle end

To achieve a very short paddle, you may need to trim the end handle spigot too. This will be apparent when the handle 'bottoms out' in the sleeve. When calculating hot much to trim from the handle, be sure that there is at least 75mm of handle spigot inserted into the sleeve to achieve a strong connection.

You can cut the shaft with a hacksaw fitted with a fine-tooth blade or a metal cut-off wheel. Be sure to use the appropriate PPE for this task.

If you have a glue-in handle, test fit the handle once again after any trimming has been completed. Mark the desired handle depth with a pencil so that you can see the correct depth when attaching the handle with hot-melt glue.

B. Apply glue to handle spigot (for glue-in handles)

C. Attach and align the handle (for glue-in handles)

The handle will be aligned so that it is parallel with the end of the blade. Since we already aligned and attached the blade, this part is pretty easy. With the glue still hot and malleable, inset the handle into the sleeve. Make sure to insert the handle to the measured pencil marking we made in 3.A.

D. Clean Up (for glue-in handles)

Same as before, a bit of heat and a rag with turpentine will quickly remove and excess glue.

Assembled!