Modern Buddy

I am tired of buying different rollers and can't find heavy enough sliders to dial in my variator so I started an experiment last week with my lightest set of rollers because they have the largest hole in them; stuffing my rollers with extra weight to adjust their effective weight.

My first experiment was using 3/8" ball bearings, one per roller. The size was large enough that they did not move much and while running they were smooth and quiet under operation. The problem with them was their portly weight was too heavy. Not sure how much each of the balls weighed but it must have been at least a gram each if not more. The nice thing about the large ball bearing was their fit and metal construction. They would not be able to come out of the roller while in the variator and the metal would not succumb to the heat of the variator and cause problems there.

I was back at the hardware store today and I found something lighter. Cable stops. Some sort of a cable crimp deal that weighs somewhere around .3 grams which is just what I was looking for. I have not installed these yet(tomorrow) but they are a cylindrical shape that are large enough to fit into the rollers without the possibility to fall out. These should get me in the ballpark of the weight I want so I look forward to getting them up and running.

The moral of the story is this; with one set of lighter than necessary rollers or sliders you can add weights to the inside of the roller to dial in the perfect setup for your application.

Things to consider:
1. Has to cope with the heat of the transmission/engine
2. The weight has to be large enough that it will stay inside of the roller/slider weight as they reach the tops of their tracks in the variator and exposing any of the opening of your roller slider. A small ball bearing could possibly exit the roller/slider weight if the opening were exposed in the roller/slider.
3. Make sure the added weight/object to be added to the roller/slider has smooth edges that will not cause friction or damage to the variator tracks or roller/slider inner.

I can't get sliders over 6 grams locally and this is going to be my way of being able to use the ones I bought dialed in perfectly to my bike.

Interesting. Can you post pics when you try the cable stops?

There are a few pitfalls of this method that I can think of and probably more that I can't.

Mainly, any additional weight needs to be well-distributed within and between the rollers so they can still rotate properly and wear somewhat evenly. Wearing too fast, developing flash spots prematurely, sticking, etc. can quickly damage the ramps in your variator.

Which isn't to say that this can't be done… I'm just glad you're willing to be the guinea pig.

Yeah, let us know how your experiment goes.
Be sure to weigh each of the cable stops since they probably aren't made to exact specs and there could be some variability. Too much difference and you could end up with significant vibration in the variator.

I didn't get around to the swap today. We are actually having rain so I didn't want to ride in it over to my brother's house(where the compressor is).

I did use the ball bearings without issue though.

The weights are going in 6 gram sliders so issues with uneven wear should be minimal.

Tomorrow is supposed to be wet as well so this may be a Wednesday project.

First attempt with the little crimp style cable stops was a fail. Too small and they fell out of the sliders causing the variator to be stuck open.

Went back to the hardware store(Ace Hardware) and brought the slider with me to check for dimensions instead of guessing and found a slightly larger diameter and heavier cable stop.

After checking these in the variator at max slider height and shaking the variator, the larger ones did not fall out. I used three of the larger ones and am satisfied with the better pulling power off the bottom but I will need to use the stiffer contra spring to get the most out of the heavier weight. Good news is they are staying put but I found a better solution.

In the hardware store they sell brass tube, steel tube, and aluminum tube in 10" lengths, maybe slightly shorter. These are sold in several diameters so you could actually fine tune with different diameters and materials since some are heavier than others.

One of the brass tubes I checked was a millimeter short of being a snug fit.

Moral of the story, with one set of sliders or rollers and some of the tubing of proper diameter from your local hardware store and a hacksaw you could have a fully adjustable set of rollers instead of purchasing several different weights of rollers.

Eric, with the larger cable stop and sliders there are no issues with performance. The tubing could be used in the rollers or sliders without issue.

I tried uploading a pic but it failed. Having an issue. Time to photobucket!