I couldn't find a mechanical/exploded view drawing of the hi-hat anywhere.

i know, i couldn't find anything either. thanks for looking.

I had looked earlier and couldn't find one either.

John

Me too. Spent some time the other night looking. I figured something Ludwig would be out there but looks like there isn't unless someone has a scan from a Master Parts Catalog. My Slingerland hi hats have a internal spring like yours. And is sort of the same design. Mine was ok just a bit gummy with dried gunk and some dead bugs. If I get some time soon I'll take the other one apart and see if I can replicate the pedal staying on the ground. Reverse engineer the problem so to speak. In the meantime I hope you find out the fix!!

i did finally get the stand to function somewhat. still not working right but i can get it to bounce back it i have the hats opened about two inches and i really dont like that. im not sure what more to do with it. what baffles me most is i took the one for judes kit apart too. both stands parts look the same except a cupl pieces are different sizes but functions the same. im just gonna use as is for now and look for a spring in the mean time........any out there?

Hi Robyn, I'm interested in the "story of the failure", i.e. what happened. Was it sudden? While you were playing?

Reason I ask is compression springs don't suddenly "deflate" and fail - it happens over time, more like noticing there's *a little less* bounce-back than you remember from last year....

It's also pretty hard to accidentally bend a rod ~inside a tube~. So while the rod being bent would certainly stick up the mechanism, look to the top of the rod just below where the hats are attached.

I know you have it back together and I'm late in this, but stuff like this ticks me off if I don't know what the issue is - it's not voodoo there's something very simple and very mechanical going on. I would actually contact Ludwig.

Meanwhile I'd make double sure the spring was not jumping the "nipped bits" in the rod - a washer is a great idea.

Mitch

Hi Mitch, thanks for your interest. let me get back later with more of an explanation, im at work on break and it takes me a bit to type stuff.

ill be back later to address everyones comments, thanks.

John n Glenn...thank you both for your time of searching. i've search alot myself, even worded my search in different ways and still came up with nothing. im almost convinced there is not a diagram to be found.

Glenn...your pedal mechanism is basically the same as mine, both work the same and the spring on yours is flaired at one end same as mine. mine too was a litl dirty but really not enough to cause the malfunction i am having. cleaned all the old grease off and regreased anyway.

Mitch.....i understand you completely. its really ticking me off too. i for the life of me can not figure this thing out. i've had this stand for maybe two yrs now. it has always worked but not 100%. i would have to do alot of adjusting and reajusting but would eventually get it to function to my satisfaction. but when i got the new beats a few weeks back, i put them on the stand and all hell broke loose. i could not get the darn thing to work, even after adjusting every adjustable piece on the stand. so now of course it wont bounce back with any hat i put on it. after the cleaning and reassemble i have managed to get a bounce back, but like i said i have to open the hats about two inches which causes the pedal to bottom out but bounces back up. if i open the top hat to only a inch or half inch, it wont bounce back up, it just stays closed when i push the pedal down. i checked the spring a cupl times to make sure it was not slipping over the crimped part of the rod and it is not. i first thought the flair fo the spring was getting caught up on the link inside the tube because it would not go in place when i was trying to insert it from the top of the stand tube then i remembered when i took it apart the spring came out from the bottom so was able to get it all back together by inserting the spring from the bottom of the tube. you know...now that i think about this as i type this out....im thinking the spring is getting caught up on the linkage thing mounted inside the tube. i need to take it apart again and do some more investigating. got something going thru my head now. ill tear into it again later today and get back with you all on it.

thanks for all the ideas and help guys......i'll be back.

I think we have your issue - the stand is old and the spring was fatigued when you got it. The introduction of the heavier hats was the proverbial straw, and the spring is finished. I'm by no means any kind of engineer but I found this -

"Fatigue Failure: Cyclic loading slowly damages materials near microscopic defects. After a number of loading cycles, small cracks initiate. Under continued cycling loading, the cracks grow until the structure suddenly ruptures, often at an unexpectedly low load. This phenomenon is called fatigue failure."

www.amesweb.info/MechanicalSprings/CompressionSpringFatigueDesign.aspx

While there's no obvious visible cracks I can see in your pics, you might find some using a strong enough magnifying glass. Or maybe not, but the fact the spring has never worked 100% strongly indicates to me spring fatigue.

Luckily you live in the US, where every sort of esoteric doodad imaginable can be found...unlike up here where we can't even get, say, Krylon Glitterblast. :) So, I would begin a search for a spring of similar dimensions and strength. You might have to cut one down but that's no biggie.

...and that's my take! :)

Mitch

Mitch...your explanation of fatigue failure may very well be the problem. have had this in the back of my mind but was hoping if i fiddled with it enough i could get it to work. its not looking in my favor tho, so looks like im in search of another spring.

thanks for your time Mitch. thank you to everyone.

i am not done with this thing yet, im not gonna let it take me down, I will prevail, one way or the other.