Lucky wrote:

Aren't the Drake R8's better then the R8a's in the regard the optical
encoder is optical in the R8 while mechanical in the R8a and R8b?

In fact, on Ebay, I see the R8's more sought after then the R8a from what
I've seen so far.

Drake claims they stopped making the optical encoder used in the R8
because it had problems. I don't know if it was more or less reliable
than the mechanical encoder in the R8A and R8B. I'm reasonably sure the
problem with the mechanical one is related to the lubricant (grease). I
think it reacts with the metal of the contacts to form a non-conductive
coating. Cleaning the parts and lubing them with a synthetic grease has
solved the problem with mine.


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