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Old 17th Jan 2014, 2:12 pm   #34
emeritus
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Brentwood, Essex, UK.
Posts: 5,316
Default Re: Improvising with Household Items.

Further to #32, on Christmas Eve 2012 the fan of our electric oven wouldn't turn but just sat there buzzing. Prodding the impeller through the grill could get it started, but the fan blade fouled the housing. The end bearing turned out to be very worn. No chance of getting a replacement motor at lunchtime on Christmas eve, and the family were expecting their turkey the next day! Adding a couple of washers stopped the fouling, but it would only run slowly and noisily because the shaft was precessing in the bearing sleeve, even when oiled.

I remembered reading about how early railway waggons used grease boxes where lubrication was effected by the friction of a dry bearing generating enough heat to melt the grease, so got out my tin snips and folded up a small box using tinplate from a baked bean tin, stuck it on the end of the motor housing with some silicone rubber sealant, and packed it with some grease that I used to use for lubricating car wheel bearings. It got us through Christmas and was still working Ok when we got a new cooker in early February.
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