The "rest of the story"

[cwskirmisher]

Back in early spring, I had issues with a broken Frankford Arsenal tumbler, and FA refused to give me any parts or repair support. See my post: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=78735

So, letting the thing collect dust while I continually swapped out media bowls on my Lyman Turbo started to get to me, so I broke out the screwdriver and tore the FA down to parade rest. I was either going to find a replacement motor, or give the whole thing a flying lesson. I used a bit of compressed air and cleaned all the dust/gunk out of the motor assembly, then I oiled it up with quality penetrant, and reassembled. To my surprise and amazement, it worked... and has been working now without fail for the last 2 weeks - whenever I flipped the switch, it would happily hum. Back in battery.

So, lesson learned - keep it clean, and for goodness sake oil it every once in a while. A philosophy that can be applied to almost anything else too!:violin:

[Cowboy T]

Thanks for the tip! I've got a Frankford Arsenal tumbler, and I'll give it your described treatment every now and again.

[shaune509]

just a note - never use penatrant like clp. wd40 etc on the bearins of these small motors.
the sintered bronz bearing NEEDS machinest or air tool oil only, the wd40 type multipurpose oils drive out the real oil in the bearing and the motor will fail for ever with in several hours of continoius use. make sure there are NO solvents in any oil you use for any bearings.

[geargnasher]

Good advice, Shaune. Older GE desk fans (the ones with braided cloth wire insulation) had bronze bearings and they worked great in older households that had only Singer sewing machine oil and non-detergent 30-wt around for lubricants. More of them have been ruined from overzealous garage-sale shoppers taking them home and squirting them full of the latest super-duper uber-slicker ultra-penetrating miracle in a spray can "lube" than from the wear of a lifetime of use.

It sucks that our made-in-china stuff isn't designed to be maintained, but then again it's pretty cheap to begin with. I'm a fixer/maintainer myself, and wish everything had servicable bearings and brushes, and that things were made of materials that didn't degrade just from sitting around, like rubber motor-support bushings. I recently tried to get bushings for my chinese circular saw, but none to be had. It wears out, chuck it. Problem is, I can't afford a Milwaukee for household work, so I'm caught in the planned obsolesence trap.

Gear

[cwskirmisher]

OUCH! OK, back to the innards I go.... to replace the CLP I used with some tool oil - thanks for that very timely tip!!! It hasn't failed yet, so I am hoping I did no damage.

BTW, the other thing that I found when taking it apart was the motor mounting bolts had backed out, or actually up, into the area where the media bowl sits, interfering with it. Locktite them back in place when cleaning/oiling is complete.

[1hole]

Oil your tumbler motor with cheap Automatic Transmission Fluid (good light gun oil too.) ATF won't dry into a varnish-like goo that will bind the motor shaft like some common light oils will, especially like WD-40 will.

I suspect 2/3rds of the viberator tumblers that get tossed out need nothing but a quality oil on the bronze bearings to keep running for years. Of course if the user allows them to stay turned on with a stuck motor humming in protest, any electric motor WILL melt down!

Most of the rest of the tossed tumbers probably have a simple to repair broken wires at the motor connections or power plug.

[Buckshot]

............My cousin now has an old oscillating fan made by GE in 1926 that had belonged to my grandparents. Chrome bullet shaped motor housing, cast and polished 4 blade aluminum fan that resides behind a chrome guard that a youngster could probably stick their fist through (once). Cloth braided cord with a bakelite (I guess) 2 prong plug.

At either end of the motor housing is a small brass tube about 1" long that's flared on the top, so that the owner could on occasion apply a drop or 2 of oil to the bushings. As a teenager I had to pull the cast aluminum cover off the gearbox to see how the thing worked. The gears were steel and the steel pendulum arm had it's own little brass bushing the pin of the gear went up into. The little dab of old grease had shrunk back up into the corners of the housing so I'd thumbed a bit of wheel bearing grease in and buttoned it back up.

That old fan is now 84 years old and it still runs just as nice and quite as the day it was made. I'm sure it cost a bit back then, as money was actually WORTH something, but then again GE hadn't built it with the idea it would require replacement every season like our $19 plastic ones do, and people weren't of the mindset to do that either.

I have one of those $19 pedestal fans out in the shop. It got to where you had to spin the plastic blade with our finger to get it to run. I had to disassemble the thing almost completely to even SEE the motor shaft bushings. They don't want you to easily maintain it, if at all. A bit of light spindle oil on each bushing while it was running, and the rpms rapidly picked right up. I punched out a couple felt donuts, one for either end of the motor, placed up against the shaft bushings and then oiled'em up well before screwing the endplates and motor housing back on.

It's been running fine for the past couple of years, and has even run all night long several times when I've forgotten to turn it off when leaving. I've even gone so far as to check out some brass capillary tube in the MSC catalog for oilers but trying to install one on each bushing would be a bigger pain then taking it apart every 2-3 years and oiling it is!

..............Buckshot

[7of7]

I agree with Geargnasher, it really sucks that the stuff we purchase now isn't built to last. Then again, our culture is not the same as what it was. The younger generations are very much consumers.. if it breaks, or doesn't work, throw it away, and go get a new one.
Myself, I like to see why stuff breaks.. I purchased a Hornady tumbler that died a week after I got it.. It turned out to be that the motor is two parts, and they had separated... the tape that held them together failed. I then used a plastic zip tie, and it has been working great!! My Frankford Arsenal tumbler, I had to install some shims to keep the bearing tight in the housing so it would do its job...I used a strip of paper between the aluminum housing, and the bearing to keep the outside from spinning..