GE brass bell restoration question

[Fred Summers]

Howdy!

I’m new here, and just starting out on a restoration of a GE brass bell fan. Can anyone give me some guidance on removing the brass engage/disengage knob on top of the gearbox cover, and the brass bell oscillator on the bottom of the gearbox?

I know they are press fit onto a steel shaft, but I don’t want to break the cast iron by levering against it if there is a better way. The best I can come up with is to heat the brass a little and try to get two screwdrivers or pry tools under the lip 180 degrees apart and try to lever it off. But I thought I’d ask if there is a better tool/way. 
thanks. 

[Joel Schmid]

Hey Fred - Welcome to the antique fan world !

For any GE brass or steel bell oscillator the oscillator engagement knob is press fit to the shaft and does not come off. To open the gear box for service remove the small cover screws, then unscrew the engagement knob and the top cover, knob, and engagement standoff will come off together. Now you can clean out all the old grease from the gear box and put new grease in.

For the oscillator bell you should find TWO set screws in the bell that hold it on the shaft.

Loosen the set screws and the bell should slide off. If it doesnt you can pry GENTLY between the top of the bell and the underside of gear box. It should not need much force.

[Fred Summers]

Hi Joel-

as the title of my post stated, this question pertains to restoration, not simply opening the gearbox for adding more grease. I wish to decouple the brass parts from their cast-iron housing and steel shafts so that I can restore the fan to like-new condition. 
 

Also, my brass bell lacks the set screws you speak of. 

[Fred Summers]

Hi Joel-

as the title of my post stated, this question pertains to restoration, not simply opening the gearbox for adding more grease. I wish to decouple the brass parts from their cast-iron housing and steel shafts so that I can restore the fan to like-new condition. 
 

Also, my brass bell lacks the set screws you speak of. 

[Steve Sherwood]

 I always leave those 2 parts on when I have restored that type of fan. There are not set screws on the bell, as you stated. 

[Fred Summers]

17 hours ago, Steve Sherwood said:

 I always leave those 2 parts on when I have restored that type of fan. There are not set screws on the bell, as you stated. 

Thanks Steve, I’m sure many people do too; you can probably get by with just leaving them in place if you are just polishing in place with a dremel and hitting it up with some rattle can spray paint. 

I’m a classically trained machinist with a full CNC machine shop and I’m going to re-machine the teeth on the knob and tumble all the brass parts. The cast iron is all going into the sandblast cabinet to be blasted and I also have a powder coating business and will be powder coating the castings. I guess you could say I’m going above and beyond the average Joe in restoration work.

There are some excellent photos on white glove fans showing the disassembly of a brass bell so obviously some people take it to that level during their restoration. Still looking for advice from anyone who knows something. 
 

http://whiteglovefans.com/blog/2014/10/12/1924-12-ge-brass-bell-fan-for-sale

[Louis Luu]

Puller?  Not sure if the back part is pot metal.  If it is, you may run into problems pushing too hard against it.  Protect the box with brass parts with some sort of tape or cushion.  I have not tried this and don't own one.