David Kilnapp Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 (edited) Good morning fan friends. A friend that I met on the AFCA's FB page acquired a GE pancake locally (in California) for very short money. The fan hadn't run in decades and was missing its cage and motor tag. I volunteered to try and get the fan running if the owner wanted to ship the fan to me. That was in October, 2022. The fan was in poor condition. The brass cage was broken in several places and needed considerable repairs. The neck piece was cracked. The fan was also missing the oil slingee, the blade, and the mica insulators behind the power posts. The base of the front cover was broken. The rotor stem was badly worn and needed replacing as was the bearing which had a lot of play. The first order of business was to ohm out the stator which proved to be good. The fan was missing its motor tag so I emailed Kim Frank who graciously provided a good serial number which I forwarded to Donald Colman to make a reproduction tag. I shipped the rotor and the front of the case to Darryl Hudson who replaced the worn rotor stem and the brass bearing. After replacing the bearing, Darryl shipped the front cover to Rick Powell for japanning. I had already shipped the base and the rear housing to Rick at that point. Rick repaired the crack in the neck. A trip to Brockton, MA was made to deliver the cage, struts and other brass pieces to Ron Bethoney at New England Brass Refinishing. Ron did his usual fantastic job of repairing the cage. Before: After: The bakelite terminal post bases were broken which I replaced from my inventory. Darryl provided some new knurled nuts for the terminal posts. Rick Powell did his usual outstanding work on the japanning after repairing the crack in the front housing. The fan was missing the mica insulators on the inside of the rear cover and one of the copper connectors (which I made). Chad Baker provided the mica insulators and an oil slingee. The replacement slingee was pretty banged up so I opted for a reproduction oil slingee from Darryl Hudson. Yesterday, the reproduction brass motor tag arrived in the mail from Don Colman so I put the fan together. The blade that is on it is one that I had in my inventory. Kim Frank confirmed that the correct blade would have been the one with the cast brass bull nose as seen below on my '02 cake. I emailedTed Kaczor regarding a reproduction blade and will also post in the "wanted" part of the forum for the correct blade. Antique fan parts doesn't show this blade on their web site. The blade that I had in my inventory is out of balance and therefore causes the fan to vibrate excessively and bang at the highest of the five speeds but otherwise it runs well even though the blade is troublesome. Here you can see it running. Edited January 15, 2023 by David Kilnapp 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Gaines Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 Outstanding job! A lot of teamwork. Beautiful Fan . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Ray Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 That turned out beautiful! Great write up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kilnapp Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 Thanks Bobby. I'm not really a restorer. I'm more of an organizer or orchestra leader to bring all the parties together to bring these grand machines back to life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Lindsey Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 Nice rescue! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron May Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 Nice save David, it looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Chew Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 Beautiful restoration David.I love the stick mounts . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Daugird Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 Another one back from the dead, nice job all who contributed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ Huber Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 (edited) 4 hours ago, David Kilnapp said: Thanks Bobby. I'm not really a restorer. "The fan hadn't run in decades and was missing its cage and motor tag. I volunteered to try and get the fan running if the owner wanted to ship the fan to me. That was in October, 2022. The fan was in poor condition. The brass cage was broken in several places and needed considerable repairs. The neck piece was cracked. The fan was also missing the oil slingee, the blade, and the mica insulators behind the power posts." ~ David Kilnapp That's an Oxymoron, David. : > ) Edited January 15, 2023 by Russ Huber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kilnapp Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 (edited) Thanks Russ. I'm not exactly sure what you mean, Russ, but the true restorers in this group would include folks with much more talent and skill than I have or ever will have. Edited January 15, 2023 by David Kilnapp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ Huber Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 3 minutes ago, David Kilnapp said: Thanks Russ. I'm not exactly sure what you mean, Russ, but the true restorers in this group would include folks with much more talent and skill that I have or ever will have. It is a compliment, David. Yes, I myself would have never got past first base with a number of restorations if it weren't for some fine folks here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Jeffrey Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 Wonderful work as always. Always a pleasure seeing them come together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Carmody Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 Nice!I You go to great lengths to bring them back to their former glory and beyond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Gaines Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 1 hour ago, Russ Huber said: It is a compliment, David. Yes, I myself would have never got past first base with a number of restorations if it weren't for some fine folks here. Amen to that Russ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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