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16”Micarta blade Westinghouse restore,complete


Paul Carmody

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Well I bought the fan cheap as it was covered in grime and had paint specks and drips all over it.Initially it was for parts on another fan,but when I cleaned it up, there was a really nice fan underneath.Checked out the electrical ,all good.It ran and oscillated fine ,but had a rattle that I thought I could fix with cleaning and shims,but it was not to be.Front bearing and shaft were junk.So it has sit on hold ,taking up space on my desk collecting dust for the last year 1/2 or more waiting until I found some parts.I made some request with no luck.Waiting for a parts fan to show up ,I finally just said the heck with it and bought a parts fan for more than twice what I paid for the original.This previous post explains cause and effect.

 

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I Know!This is a sad affair.😪But this unfortunate gave its life so another may live.It ran smooth,and oscillated well except the speed coil was gone replaced with a toggle.The blade has big bubbles where it is delaminating.

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How do you like my wire job?This should last another hundred.What do you think?

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Here’s a couple of more pics.The circle and arrows is where the porcelain cracked in half,, and one of the legs had 2/3 missing.It probably got slammed down during shipping.See the bent screw.

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Here it is, color coded ready to go in.All hardware trued,blued ,polished,and coated.The added earth ground is permanently affixed to the plate at the mounting hole with a quick connect in case it ever needs disassembly.The 75 was a factory marking so I put it back.Reverse electrolysis was used to remove rust from plate and sprayed with epoxy trim paint as well as the porcelain.

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Edited by Paul Carmody
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If you haven’t separated the pivot before on one of these. I turn the wing nut around and screw it back on.This keeps from damaging the threads or the wing.One has to appreciate how Westinghouse copper coated and then blackened all the hardware.Unless it has been it the elements they have no rust to bond them.I was going to give it to my daughter but the snag she got another.I was going to bling it is why the wing nut is missing blackening and all the brass on the fan.I apologize Tony and it will be corrected just not original.The black on the cylinder and screw is still nice.Im not sure what the black is actually.If it’s just acid dipped or a hard coating.Russ probably knows.

 

 

 

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All cleaned up.So far the grease rings,felt has been in excellent condition on all I have worked on.If you look at the right of the cup. Before repair. At some point it fell over and it’s bent and had a crack, horseshoe,and a line in the middle.I took a thin cutter on a Drimel, cut into the cracks not going all the way through.Drilled a small hole in the runner to stop it.Was able to straighten it enough by screwing the cap on and off.Then filled the crack with JBWeld.

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If the fan has the infamous Westinghouse neck wobble,unless the pivot is broke this is the problem.It’s lose at the post to oscillator.It was carefully cleaned and sanded at yellow circle.You guessed it.JBWeld.

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Here’s the crack repaired oscillator housing.I only blended in the back part of oscillator with an airbrush then wet sanded and buffed in.The worm gear cap blued.

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I had pics of the fan before but since it’s been so long I somehow lost the file.I mentioned the fan had spots all over it.I hadn’t got around to two blades on the back which didn’t have as much.Micheal Rothenberger a while back suggested Goofoff and I’m pretty sure it would work on latex or water base paint that acetone and such would not touch.I tried it and it was working but the rag was turning black from the blade.So I went back to detail spray and clay bar and a couple of  minutes later it was gone.I don’t know how it works but it does.Maybe just on water base?That’s all I’ve tried it on so far.It also turned black.Also with water and a rag ,no matter how much it was cleaned.Chalking I guess.
Before and after.

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I could have painted the blade and it would be smoother than original but it was too nice but streaked and faded.Water streaked it even,and was faded looking.Buffing almost worked but the compound soaked into the Micarta.I found a multi stage process without paint or traditional clear coat that completely rejuvenated and sealed  it  with a satin sheen.The Micarta looks factory fresh.I will get better picks at the end.Also blued the center brass hub after polishing.

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Test run.For days with its replacement parts.All good ready to be soldered in.I know some probably throw the case on and done.The bearing alignment is a Bi…!Patience,luck!Go very slow and make sure the gap is even,like a quarter turn at a time alternating nuts.The case is so tight if you tighten the wrong screw  tight and it makes noise it’s start all over.It has to be running towards the finish tighten.Just spinning the blade by hand may not do it.Also the AMPs can be watched.If they go up go to another nut.I checked heat on the speed coil and surprisingly there was no heat.None?

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Almost forgot.A word of advice.If the blade is sanded for balancing,wear a mask ,gloves,and do it outside.The Micarta has a very strong chemical smell.VERY strong when sanded.It smells like a mixture of fiberglass resin and cow manure.No joke!And the dust falling on my arm.I had an itch for 2 days.It has fiberglass in it,and who knows what else.MASK!

Thats it for tonight.

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If anyone has recorded a fan ,it’s hard to get a clean audio with the wind distortion .

These Westinghouse can be frustrating at best.At one point I wanted to throw it in the yard.

But when they are right,what smooth runners with little motor noise.The deep pitch blades put out an incredible amount of wind.Low ,first video just Idling along.Then second speed ,well you will see.3 I couldn’t get anything on audio but hurricane winds so It was pointless,was trying to record motor running.

Tip of the day.If the wife complains about smells associated with fan restoration or old oil.That rag blowing is a drier sheet.The whole house will smell like a sweet spring breeze.

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Hardware blued.Brass base screws.Other than a few touch ups the paint is all original.Except the shine.Doing final cleaning,wax,hardware seal.

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Well it’s done,all hardware sealed,cage on.I was going to show today but I don’t have good natural light.Clouds,rain.We sure need it.There is a bad drought going on here.

I was just killing time and didn’t like the rough cast on the wing nut so I saved it ,as it has the copper coating on it ,and blued.The one used was off parts fan that had bad scaring from someone’s use of pliers.Probably some of you can restore a fan in the time I spent on this one nut.Oil blued.A retired guy can waste time like that.

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Paul, you are looking not at patent dates but a date most likely when Westinghouse bought a new batch of motor tags which seem to have been every two to three or more years depending on the model of fan and if DC or AC and what size.    The other dates on the motor tag are patent dates but not these tiny "micro dates".

 

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