to get the needle off, carefully hold the shaft w/ a good pair of longnose pliers and pull the needle right at the shaft w/ yer hand - will take some effort, but not enuff to damage anything if you hold the shaft firmly - if you don't pull right at the center the needle will fold up, very thin stuff, tho maybe you ordered a new needle too

the green is just a flat color kinda like the primer that's used on aircraft aluminum [zinc chromate? or is that yellow?]

Bill


Moved over to the Passing Lane

"When we tug a single thing in nature, we find it attached to the rest of the world" ~ John Muir
"When we tug a single thing on an old truck, we find it falls off" ~ me
Some TF series details & TF heater pics