Where do I put tape to keep out dust?

wdwendyd · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 3

Hi everyone!
Thank you for all your help! I just received my replacement Roomba after my first one died of the Circle Dance. When I was researching how to fix that, I remember someone had posted pictures showing where they put tape to keep dust out of the sensors that are in the wheels. Now I can't find those pictures and before I run my spanking new and clean replacement Roomba, I would like to do this.
Thank you!

JJ · Guest

Well, I wouldn't necessarily take my Roomba apart if it was still working, but the instructions for this are here.

wdwendyd · Guest Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 3

Thank you JJ! I think I will use those pictures to help me fix my "dead" Roomba. But the pictures I'm thinking of, you did not have to open Roomba up. The tape was just applied to the casing of the wheels over some of the cracks.
I guess I should also ask if people think this taping is really helpful and are there any other preventative measures?

Gordon · Posted: April 21, 2005, 12:40 pm Post subject:

wdwendyd:
If you visit the Photos directory at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/roomba-users/
...and look in "GSP's-pix" you can see white tape applied to the wheel-assembly of a Pro-model Roomba. Those additions proved helpful. Testing on a Discovery, however, showed the taped-over motor-shaft hole to be unnecessary.

Also, the Disco's have improved debris sealing at the belt-cover to the bulkhead part it joins. But there remains some very slim gaps between those two parts that will admit fine dust. Covering those gaps with tape might be possible, but would be more complicated than that shown in the Pro photos. I have been testing another approach for almost two months, and the results are good -- no circle dances after 30-hours of operation on ww-carpet.

Prior history was: two CDs, one after two hours of operation following optics cleaning; and the first CD with approx. ten hours out of the box.

What I did was to apply 'caulking' along the above indicated joint. The "caulking" material used, was a very stiff silicone grease I happened to have on hand. An alternate 'grease', one could try, is the product "Museum Wax"; but it might require warming to get it to exude from a syringe needle. I used a 1CC syringe with a blunted #16 to #20 needle as a caulking gun to apply a micro-bead of grease along the lowest segment of the joint between the belt-cover and bulkhead. The total linear span was between the screw-bosses of the lowest pair of Cover screws; and included doing the interleaved joint of the Cover with the two bosses.

If a stiff grease can be applied following tachometer-optics cleaning, and just prior to bolting the Cover on, grease could be buttered along the Cover's edge, and onto the screw-bosses without need of syringe & needle.

Even with that sort of barrier in place, to trap intruders, bear in mind there are internal debris sources. Lubricating grease from the wheel gearing is one, and rubber particles is another. Rubber bits from the O-ring belt will be the greater threat; yet not as bad (I find) as dust coming in from outside. The rubber bits are usually much larger than intruding dust particles, hence they are not caught up in the turbulent air (chopper blades whirring like a fan) and thus redistributed to the extent of dust.