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Old 21st Aug 2020, 10:46 am   #21
Lloyd 1985
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Default Re: New air con for the shed! Ancient GEC fan.

There is rather a lot of washers in it! 6 of them all at the back end, and 1 at the front, that’s what made me think something is missing. I did notice whilst cleaning it the original bronze/ brass bearings look to be removable, there was a grub screw attaching them to the casing, but someone has filed them flush with the case, I’m guessing it wasn’t done at the factory, as they scuffed up the paint with the file when they did it. The old paint is coming up nicely with a clean and polish!

I thought I’d killed the motor yesterday, I tried to move one of the lead out wires, and there was a crunch and it was no longer attached! Even worse it had to be the one that connected under the coils, that I couldn’t get easy access to, I couldn’t remove the coils either, the laminations of the motor are well wedged into the case and don’t seem to be removable, luckily with a bright light shone into it I could see the ends of the wires through one of the front ventilation slots, and managed to pick them free with some tweezers. I was then able to solder a new wire onto the end of the broken one, I used some new silicone covered wire that I use for radio and TV rewiring, it’s nice and flexible so shouldn’t put any stress on the old coil wire, the reason the original broke was because the insulation that was on it had gone rock hard, I don’t think it was original, as it looked like PVC. I’ve also put a layer of heatshrink over the new join. The insulation on the old coils looks a little flaky, so I’m expecting to have to have it rewound one day. I still haven’t checked it for insulation resistance yet, I guess there will probably be some leakage, but hopefully not enough to be a problem.

As for rattling old shaded pole motors, you should hear the one in my old heater! It’s so loud you can hear it across the garden with the shed door closed! I really should replace it.

I’ll give the old electrolysis trick a go, if I can find a container big enough for it! At least if it does look awful afterwards I’ll take it to work and give it a coat of gloss black!

Regards
Lloyd
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Old 21st Aug 2020, 10:54 am   #22
Radio_Dave
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Default Re: New air con for the shed! Ancient GEC fan.

It might have originally had fibre washers fitted? When taking out excessive end float it's important to try and centralise the rotor within the magnetic field. If you don't the fan can knock because the the shaft is being, repeatedly, pulled one way by the fan blades and then back by the magnetic field


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David
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Old 21st Aug 2020, 11:27 pm   #23
Lloyd 1985
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Default Re: New air con for the shed! Ancient GEC fan.

Ah, it probably did have fibre washers, I remember my heater’s fan motor had them, and one of them has broken, which made it rattle.

I finally gave it a check with the Megger today, it does have some leakage, over 500 meg when cold, but after running for around 10 minutes the motor was quite warm, more than I’d expect, and checking the resistance again showed it had dropped to 40 meg. I also noted that the motor runs at almost double it’s rated current, 0.48A, and it’s rated for 0.24A. I should have checked it earlier, before taking it to bits to clean it! The insulation on the coils did look a little tired, they are wrapped in some sort of cloth tape, and there are holes in it where you can see the coils, and the enamel on the windings looked flakey, so I do wonder if there are a couple of shorted turns. Be a shame if it does turn out to be knackered! I ran it for a while in a lamp limiter, and the 100W bulb glowed a light orange, trying a yucky modern plastic fan the bulb glowed a dull orange, and the motor stayed cool.

If the motor is toast it’ll be quite difficult to sort out, the coils are held in place by metal plates wedged into the laminations, if they could be removed then the coils would come out easily, it’s just getting them out that would be the problem! I wonder if a blast of freezer spray would make them shrink enough to slide out?

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Lloyd
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Old 22nd Aug 2020, 8:30 am   #24
MurphyNut
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Default Re: New air con for the shed! Ancient GEC fan.

Lovely object, I'm sure there must be people that specialise in collecting such things, radio is my main thing but I still have 5 vintage fans. Most of them working and earning their keep when we had that hot spell.
This is probably my favourite, being also a GEC and similar vintage I wouldn't be surprised if the workings are the same as the fan featured in this thread.

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=158754
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Old 22nd Aug 2020, 4:36 pm   #25
usradcoll1
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Default Re: New air con for the shed! Ancient GEC fan.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Electronpusher0 View Post
Funny coincidence, visited my local car boot today for the first time since lockdown and there was an identical GEC fan!
The seller wanted £40 for it. I was tempted but managed to resist.

Peter
You should see the crazy prices they want for them at the so-called antique shops, especially the brass blade jobs.
$100 USD +
I only collect radios, but I look at many old items.
Dave, USradcoll1
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Old 28th Aug 2020, 8:34 pm   #26
Lloyd 1985
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Default Re: New air con for the shed! Ancient GEC fan.

Just spent the afternoon rewiring this fan with some really nice fabric covered braided cable from an eBay seller, it’s sort of black with white bits in it, and a good thickness too, so it fills the grommets well. I checked the motor temperature over a 20 minute period, and came to the conclusion that it’s ok, it gets up to about 50 degrees and seems to stay there. As for the insulation resistance, it comes down to about 50 meg at 500V, but then checking a radiogram that’s I have I found that also was about 50meg. It’s well earthed now all the way up to the motor casing, and it hasn’t tripped the workshop RCD yet,but I’ll keep an eye on it and if it does start tripping it then I’ll have to have a go at pulling the motor to bits and replacing the coils . I still haven’t done the guard! I’ll work on that later.

Regards
Lloyd
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Old 28th Aug 2020, 11:11 pm   #27
McMurdo
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Default Re: New air con for the shed! Ancient GEC fan.

if it's over 1 meg I think you'll be ok.
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