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/diy/ - Do It Yourself

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370582 No.370582 [Reply] [Original]

I picked this fan up today for about 20 bucks.

It was labeled as "not working", but the store owner had no insight into "why".

It's an old fan from the 1930s-1950s. That's all I know. Anyone know what it would take to make it push air?

>> No.370589
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370589

>> No.370588

How are you gonna fix a fan if you're so retarded you cant rotate a fucking picture?

>> No.370594

>>370588

Woah, okay. I didn't realize that all of 4chan was as hostile as /v/ now. Never mind. I'll ask somewhere else, like a normal antique forum.

By the way, there's a bug in ios6 where pictures appear upright to the uploader.

>> No.370601

A fan has very few parts so luckily it should be easy to diagnose!

It has a cord. Is that fucked up? Fix it.
It has a switch, is that fucked up? Fix it.
It has a motor, is that fucked up? Fix it.
It has a fan connected to the output shaft of the motor. Is that fucked up? Fix it.

Tada.

Since you're asking for help, I don't imagine you'd be ready to re-wind the motor, maybe you could replace the bushing if you knew how to diagnose that and could find the parts?

We're not very forgiving of posers. You seem like a hipster by your choice of fan and lack of very basic troubleshooting.

You weren't like 'man I did x y z p q and r but I still can't find a bushing to make the fan sit on the shaft right, can you guys help me find a part?'

You were like 'hey, I got a thing and I want it to work.' It's not actually very DIY.

>> No.370602

>>370594
Ok, so i wouldnt have posted ios6, but anyway. I've bought old fans from garages sales and fixed them up, its nothing complicated. If the blades spin freely then the motor should be good. Open it up and see. Replace the wiring, an old PSU wire will work, just cut the end off and such. If you dont have a sand or soda blaster you're going to have alot of sanding ahead of you. That thing looks pretty rough and i think 20 bucks is a little high, but oh well.

Just break it open and see how it works and what you will need to repair. Oh and also these fans were built in a time where people had to use common sense so if you get it running watch your fingers. Its easy to stick them inside where the blade spins and metal spinning blades arent too forgiving.

>> No.370604

>>370582
well it says "AC ONLY" so it has no brushes (probably).

in order of likelihood:
cord, wiring
switch
bad bearings
something bent (obvious, it'll clunk as i tspins)

i'd inspect the cord and plug, repair/replace if bad, then just plug it in. wiggle shit to see if it sparks... depending on your electrical skill level. switches fail, a lot.

at that age it is certain that whatever lubricant was in the motor bushings, isnt. oxidized into gritty dust. it will spin slow, get hot, ruin the bearings, then fail. now or later. much old shit like that is repairable, so likely if you fix any electrical issues and it runs at all, you can lube or disassemble and lube. i tmight have oil holes near where the shaft comes out for the fan. the rear bearing is likely sealed, as it doesn't hav emuch of a load.

>> No.370619

>>370602
>>370604

Thank you. Replacing the cord and scouring the wiring connection on the motor made it run. I will lubricate it later when spring comes and its insides are more viscous. My room is too cold right now.

>>370601

You're not a nice person.

>> No.370624

>>370619
(Suck my dick, I told you to do the same thing, in the same order he did)

>> No.370627

>>370624

And you did it in the most unpleasant way possible, while simultaneously calling me some sort of hipster (and being the very model of one).

Friendly advice: Get off of 4chan for a while. You're acting like a troglodyte.

>> No.370632

>>370627
Yeah well I ain't your friend pal!

>> No.370646

>mfw some /b/tards have recently here on /diy/

this place used to be extremely docile
sorry op, a few stragglers have come onto our nice board

>> No.370647

It never hurts to check those old things for shorts to earth in the windings. I've seen a few still run with shorts but overheat.

>> No.370648

>>370646

oh it generally is well behaved (tho docile may be too strong (hey let's flame each other! FUCK YOU! oh wait... boring)). but it's 4chan, for 90% good and 10% bad. you are your post.

diyfags in general welcome ignorance ("i have X, doesnt do Y, have tried Z, ideas?") and punish stupidity ("do my homework for me"). we all dont know something (usually many things) so no point in getting huffy over that shit.

dont feed the trolls applies as in /b/

>> No.370681

>>370601
Hey man he's willing to learn, everyone has to start somewhere. We need more people like him in the world.

>> No.370715

>>370582
one common problem with old fans is the (sleeve) bearings get gunked up and sticky. You can spray some solvent and some new teflon lube in there, but they will need oil occasionally and may rattle when running due to the sleeve looseness.... if you cannot get (or make) new bearings put on them, that is.

there is another BIG danger with a lot of vintage appliances like this: the METAL cases were left floating (electrically speaking)--that is, the cases were not grounded. The plugs only had two wires, that ran straight into the motor. If there was any kind of short inside, that electricity would run straight to the metal case, and anyone touching it would get shocked..... If you refab an old appliance you should ALWAYS put a grounded cord & plug on it, and GROUND THE CASE--attach the ground prong to the case somewhere on the inside.

>> No.370717

>>370715
I worked with this real old guy and his method of lubricating sintered bronze bearings was to put them in a jar of oil then pump the air out with a refrigeration vacuum pump. The bronze bubbles then when you let the air back in to the jar it fills with oil.

>> No.370718

>>370632
He's not your pal, buddy!

>> No.370726

>>370718
I'm not your buddy, guy!

>> No.370737

Can you take pictures of the inside?

>> No.370855

>>370594
>io6

And you wonder why we're mocking your intelligence...

>> No.370863

LOL .. I have one of those.

They use a funny multi-tap transformer that's connected to the switch at the bottom .. they are decidedly difficult to troubleshoot.

>> No.370880

>>370604

AC only just means that it should be plugged into a standard US outlet. It has nothing to do with the existence or non-existence of brushes. If there's a DC motor it'll switch internally.

OP, try to ensure that the fan is properly attached to ground before plugging it into an outlet. Internal wiring is likely gone to shit over the years.

>> No.370884

I collect old fans from the 30's & 40's. Many times the bronze bushings in the motor were surrounded with an oiled felt ring. Make sure if you take it apart that you oil that felt ring really good before you put it back together. Several old style fans will have oil drip tubes on the front and rear sides of the motors.

>> No.370905

20 bucks, man you got a raw deal.

I wouldn't have paid more than 5-8 bucks for that thing.

>> No.371930

>>370880
There will be no provision for ground on this device. The plug is probably not even polarized. He's just going to have to hope there's no wiring fault to the case, and if there is, hope that he's not standing in a puddle when he touches the case.

>> No.371937

>>370880

no, there are AC/DC fans, and they are marked as such. those have brushes. shunt wound.

AC only will mean it's probably some form of synchronous motor.

clearly i could be wrong. OP could reveal the innards, if it matters. sorry if i seemed to insist was a particular type, i only meant to say it is likely etc.

>> No.371964

Sorry man its behind repair.The power input that it took in the 1920 is different to the power that we produce in the 21st century (ANP compared to AND) so I doubt it will work. Try contacting your power company for a transverser and it should possibly optimize the reconfiguration.

>> No.372000
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372000

>>371964

I have a Westinghouse motor made in 1926, it runs fine on modern power. Pic related, its the data plate from my motor. Notice the manufacturing date in the upper left.

>> No.372574
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372574

>>371964
>The power input that it took in the 1920 is different to the power that we produce in the 21st century

it does not matter. i can give this thing 90, 110, 120 it does not give a crap.

same with old model train PSUs. my uncle has got an old 1915 one and it works fine.

just dont give it 220 OP