Emerson 77648 AS in mint condition

[Michael Bouthiller]

How the story goes is I was at school and lunch was about to start and my mom sent me a picture of a Emerson 77648 and I said I want it and ultimately she won it for me and it was local so I picked it up and it was in the house since the previous owner bought it new in 1952 and I was impressed on how good of condition it was and it’s a win win all around!!!

[Patrick Ray]

Beautiful condition! Use some automotive cleaner wax on that. It'll remove dirt and oxidation from the paint plus put down a nice protective coating of wax. It'll really pop! 

 

[Michael Bouthiller]

And it has all of the original wiring and grommets 

[Michael Bouthiller]

The paint still has some of its luster to it 

[Robert Todd]

Those are excellent fans.  If you take the time to polish and wax that paint, I suspect it will have a glossy shine to it.  I have had three of these and all three were in near perfect condition.  After polishing mine, the paint would shine like new.

[Michael Bouthiller]

[Marc Sova]

The 12” AS is one of my favorites. Have several. Just picked up my fifth one lol. One family owner (I think she said it was her aunts….hence “one family” not “one owner”). Blades are about as perfect as they can be. Have a few 16” too. I think these are going to be very very sought after in a few more decades. 

 

 

[Ryan McDonner]

Good evening!

I just joined the group as I came across this thread trying to find info to restore a 16” Emerson 77648 AS I picked up in the neighbors trash. It was dirty and grimy, but most of it cleaned up nicely with some simple green and a microfiber cloth. I did have to replace the power cord, but I was able to save the original plug tip. I do have a few questions if folks are willing to help:

1. the fan is missing the front cage would anyone be able to help me find a replacement for sale?

2. The head wiring is original and in decent shape with some minor fraying. What is the best way to preserve this?

3. I have bicycle bearing grease on hand. Can I use this in the gear box? 

4. the blades had some damage and residue on the edges that ended up leading to some of the paint being removed. Is there a recommendation on repainting the blades?

5. The base plate was corroded and the felt ring pretty beat up. Is this felt ring important? Can I reassemble without it?

Will send pics tomorrow when I get back to my work bench. Thank you all for your help. 

[Marc Sova]

The headwire is not too terrible to replace on the AS model. It really depends on the level of fraying. If it’s soft and pliable with a tiny bit of fraying I often leave it be. But…if it’s pretty stiff to the touch it can strain the oscillation mechanism. Again not a dire situation, but it’s advisable to change it out. Only use the three conductor over braid from antique fan parts. It’s about $4.50 a foot but there is no comparison with the $1.50 wire you get on Amazon or eBay etc. Trust me. Those wires are too stiff for headwire. You want it soft and supple like the Togo Al wire was. Sure you can order handmade wire from a guy here. His stuff is AMAZING but as you said you are a newbie, I’m not going to send you down that rabbit hole cause you’ll have to buy a minimum of twelve feet or something. I’d buy 2  feet from anyone fan supply and you’re good for this fan. If you remove the screw underneath that attaches the arm to the little wheel (don’t lose this screw!) and then unscrew the one screw I. The rest of the bullet cover, you can remove it and you’ll see the headwire connection. note however that the wire from antique fan parts does not have three different colored wires….they are all black.  So you will have to use a meter to check ohms to figure out which is which. 
   As far as the felt….the felt is nice cause you can set it on furniture without scratching. Often the procedure is to soak the pan in Evaporust…. Or if you have a sandblaster that’s ideal. I’ll message you a video of how info it. It’s pretty straight formeard. 
   The other thing to know, however, is there is a capacitor in that base mounted to the base plate. I’ll keep the originals in place if they look really nice…but if there’s signs of leakage and em rust etc, you’ll want to replace them. These contain PCB’s and you don’t want to have it leak all over your nightstand or get the crap on your hands etc. I don’t freak out about it too much but just a word of caution. Typically all that’s available are heap caps from china for about $6-7 on Amazon and eBay. You’ll want to match the number (I think for a 16” it’s 1.75 or 2.5???). You can search that info separately because there’s lots of posts about Emerson capacitor replacement (you also might join the Facebook group for the AFCA as well as a couple other groups). 
   Blade wise….yeah it’s rare to find the blades with no missing paint. That’s why as much as I don’t need any more 77 series, if I come across one that’s really mint especially the blade, I buy it. They’re aluminum and the paint was not incredibly durable on alum. If you repaint you have to use a primer meant for alumimum. You’ll not find a rattle can that matches though. I prefer them orig al with some missing paint over repaints but that’s just me. 

[Ryan McDonner]

Thanks for the tips. The capacitor is pretty good shape as is the head wires. I was wondering if I should coat the head wire cloth with anything?

I soaked the pan in vinegar and used steel wool and wire brushes to remove the surface rust and clean out some minor pitting. 
 

I plan to leave the blades bare aluminum at this point due to wanting to finish re-assembly this weekend with 2 toddlers running around. 
 

The felt lining was glued to the inside of the base plate. Was this just a dampener?
 

I was definitely careful to keep all of the fiber washers intact and in the original locations. I soaked greased parts in Dan dish soap with water and or simple green. It made it easier to remove the old grease under some warm water and a toothbrush.

All I need is just a 16 inch front cage and it’ll be good to go!

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[Patrick Ray]

The felt originally would have covered the entire bottom of the pan and wrapped around the lip and was "pinched" by the base. 

[Marc Sova]

5 hours ago, Ryan McDonner said:

Thanks for the tips. The capacitor is pretty good shape as is the head wires. I was wondering if I should coat the head wire cloth with anything?

I soaked the pan in vinegar and used steel wool and wire brushes to remove the surface rust and clean out some minor pitting. 
 

I plan to leave the blades bare aluminum at this point due to wanting to finish re-assembly this weekend with 2 toddlers running around. 
 

The felt lining was glued to the inside of the base plate. Was this just a dampener?
 

I was definitely careful to keep all of the fiber washers intact and in the original locations. I soaked greased parts in Dan dish soap with water and or simple green. It made it easier to remove the old grease under some warm water and a toothbrush.

All I need is just a 16 inch front cage and it’ll be good to go!

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