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Hi all, fitted new condenser today, had to remove points as to fiddly to to do in situ, bit of a disaster, metal and fibre washers dropped on the floor, put everything back as I thought was right, no spark at plug, decided to order a new set of points, when they arrive will there be a diagram of where the different washers go, I'm out of my comfort zone with electrics, probably have to find someone locally to do it.

Bob, which Newcastle are you in?

Newcastle Staffs in UK, bit to far to meet up 🤣

Maybe this detail of those washers on the points will help. I downloaded the page from the Bright Spark magnetos website.



They key thing to keep in mind it that the points spring must be connected metal to metal (electrically) to the points lead and the coil lead, and isolated from ground (earth). According to this drawing, it looks like the screw is the electrical path between the two wire terminals and the points spring, and the fiber washers should sandwich the tab it all secures to. It isn't clear in this drawing but one or both fibre washers may be stepped and the projection (the sticky outy part) should fit into the hole on the mount tab.

(In some less fiddly magnetos the spring and the wire terminals are all stacked together touching each other.)

Remember, those connections MUST be isolated from ground via the fibre washers from where it is secured to the fixed point (the one that is stationary ie the one that is NOT opened and closed by the point cam). The only ground it gets is through the contact points themselves.

Hi all, update, new plug, new condenser and new points, I'm pretty sure I've put everything back as it should be, but still no spark, must admit I'm a bit despondent, I've decided I've got 2 choices, 1 find someone locally who can look at it or 2 sell it as is. I think option 2 is favourite

Thanks for the update but really, this is no time to give up.
Did you have a close look at the connections yet? There likely should be 2 fibre washers, one on each side, that electrically isolate the spring and wire connections from the fixed contact "plate" it is secured to. Have a close look at the previous photo.

I assume the new points are gapped correctly but they could still need cleaning. Don't laugh, just because they are new doesn't mean they work properly. I have encountered NOS points that had a grey, non conductive deposit on the face of each contact and basically had absolutely no chance of working until cleaned with fine sandpaper (wet or dry type).

Hang in there. There are loads of helpful, patient folk here to guide you through the process.

Hi Stuart, I've been studying the previous photo and I'm sure I've got the low tension assembly correct, if I have doubt it's the fibre washer that goes on the contact breaker pivot post, does it go on before the fixed contact plate or after? The photo tells me after

Hopefully I'm understanding you correctly. The fixed contact plate won't have any fiber washers between it and the pad it screws to. There MAY be a fiber washer between the moving point and the mounting plate for the fixed point. I usually take this on a case by case basis depending on how well the point faces line up. For example, if the moving point sits too far out, I would try it again without a fiber washer and see how the point faces line up. Unfortunately I haven't worked on Lucas rotating magnet mags much at all so I'm having to wing it a little. I'm surprised nobody else has pitched in much.

Do you have an ohmmeter?

And here's a more clear image of the washer arrangement on those points. Is yours assembled like this?

the stack of electrical connections ... at the fixed points side... can be in any order
as long as the electrical connections
... are only to the points-spring and nothing else .
1. For instance , as Illustrated above , condenser and low tension connections on inside of fixed pont
2. sping is on outside .
3. Electrical connection is through the bolt ( the bolt must not "ground-out" on the " fixed-point bracket "
... as this will functionally take the sprung-side point-contact out of the-induction-Loop )... act as a kill
( don't know what washer pack you have ,
or even what the stock pack looks like ) ... but do know how it should work .

image below is very generic , but shows how the connecting Bolt's electrical path .. needs to the isolated from ground
( there is also a second connection on your magneto ) where the ignition cut-out-kill is located
... this connection also needs to use an isolated connection ... some sort of nylon "tophat" i believe .

Hi Stuart, that's exactly how I've assembled it, I'm now 100% everything is as it should be, I've cleaned the points with wet and dry as suggested but still no spark at plug, the only things I haven't renewed are the ht lead and plug cap, which I've decided to do. As for an ohmeter, I could borrow one, but as stated in my previous posts, electrics has never been my strong point and I wouldn't even know how to use it. I'm now thinking the problem is the mag itself, if the ht lead and cap don't work, I'll find someone to test the mag. By the way, I know some people might think I'm a bit thick, but how do I post a photo, I've looked but can't seem to find how

I use Postimages. It's one of the easiest ways.
Join, upload your images, select "share", (I use the hotlink for forums.) and copy it into your post. It's pretty easy once you get the steps down.

https://postimages.org/

parts are not the cheapest , coil $75 , rotor $350 ... and up
but this style magneto is easy to work on .

if you need help ,
( anyone familiar with Hunt magnetos should feel right at home with one of these )

If you remove the mag, it will require re-timing to the engine. This isn't particularly difficult but it requires precision and an understanding of the basic idea.
Personally, I would avoid removal until I was absolutely sure it was necessary.

Looking at Quinten's photo, it looks like even the coil can be replaced with the mag in situ.

Here's some basic backyard type troubleshooting methods I use as needed.

Fasten a piece of wire to the magneto case and bent it so the end is say 3/16" (appx 5mm) from that button on the coil. Remove the spark plug and kick over the engine whilst watching that gap between the wire and the button. If you see no spark, bend it a little closer and try again.

If I still see no spark, I might actually touch that button (or the plug wire terminal if everything is still assembled) while kicking it over, but slowly for this test. If I feel a small tingle I know the coil is making some voltage and the problem is probably just the points.

Then its clean and gap the points. Rotate the engine until the points are at their widest (most open) and set the points to the specified gap.

Then rotate until they close and use a white business card wetted with gasoline, brake cleaner, carb cleaner or whatever is handy, to clean the contact faces. You basically open the points, slip the wetted card between them, let the points close on it and rotate the card a bit or even slide it back and forth a little, move the points open and look at your card. There will be a black spot where the cleaning happened. Snip off the dirty part and repeat this until the card stays clean.

Then check for spark again. If you do all this and get your mag going, you have become the local expert. Here's hoping for success.