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12" Arctic Aire Oscillator being restored


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Posted

I'm restoring this fan for a buddy of mine. Can anyone date this and know the model number? I think the bottom plate had a label on it but not much was left of it. It has a SB/SC. The base is cast iron, the motor housing is cast aluminum ( not sure but not magnetic) ? It has three speeds.

I started tearing it done and the first problem I had was that I couldn't remove the hex screw from the blade. I tried heat and that didn't work so I ended up drilling it out. It was a pain after using several drill bits but I finally got it removed

Does anyone have readings for the choke coil? I get from A-B .5ohms, from B-C I get .5ohms and from A-C I get .9ohms. Seems kind a low to me. Doesn't look or smell burnt.  Also the Stator reads 11.7ohms.

Any info would be appreciated thanks.

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Posted

Unveiling a tightly held secret ingredient for Arctic Aire restoration -- Lock it in the vault. 

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Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, Vic Valencheck said:

I'm restoring this fan for a buddy of mine. Can anyone date this and know the model number?

Any info would be appreciated thanks.

Your Cutler-Hammer switch patent was FILED in 1938. Typically, the patented device goes to market the year of patent filing. Your fan appears to have been manufactured late 30s.

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Edited by Russ Huber
Posted

That style blade hub is very early 40s. Wish you had a model number & I could give you exact year. Ohm readings seem fine.

Posted

Looks like it has a first generation Cutler-Hammer switch on it 

Posted
17 hours ago, Stan Adams said:

That style blade hub is very early 40s. Wish you had a model number & I could give you exact year. Ohm readings seem fine.

Glad to hear that my readings are fine. Mine is a steel blade, Do you know when they stopped making steel blades and went to aluminum? Thanks Stan

Posted
19 hours ago, Russ Huber said:

Your Cutler-Hammer switch patent was FILED in 1938. Typically, the patented device goes to market the year of patent filing. Your fan appears to have been manufactured late 30s.

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Thanks Russ for the patent info👍

Posted

Can the oscillator wheel be removed easily or should I just work around it?

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Posted

I have one here I believe. I’ll see if it has a model #. 

Unless you want to do some involved fan-surgery, that wheel is non-removable: work around it. 

The serrated drive disc (within the gearbox) and the threaded nipple/oscillator pivot shaft is a single machined piece. The factory swaged the oscillating wheel onto the shaft at the end with a very thin swage. Replacing that swage with anything thicker (like the head of a screw) will impede the arm’s sweep of motion. 

Posted
2 hours ago, Evan Atkinson said:

I have one here I believe. I’ll see if it has a model #. 

Unless you want to do some involved fan-surgery, that wheel is non-removable: work around it. 

The serrated drive disc (within the gearbox) and the threaded nipple/oscillator pivot shaft is a single machined piece. The factory swaged the oscillating wheel onto the shaft at the end with a very thin swage. Replacing that swage with anything thicker (like the head of a screw) will impede the arm’s sweep of motion. 

Good to know. I won't further mess with it. A model # would be nice. Thanks 

Posted

The model here is not an Arctic Aire, but a Spartan. Same blade and motor head assembly, but a different cage and base. Model # would be different. Which I would be happy to share for @Stan Adams to help date, if the model number panel wasn’t blank, just like the 18” falcon blade Arctic Aire I’m reassembling 🤯😓🤷🏼‍♂️

Posted

I've forgotten that I have a 16" Spartan oscillator Model P2163A. The blade is aluminum not steel and the cage is different from the one tagged Arctic Aire. The bullets look the same.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

I ran into a couple of issues while restoring the Arctic Aire. First of all the front bearing is very sloppy inside the bearing holder. Is there a fix for that or does there have to be a replacement? I think the bearing itself is good.

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The other problem I have is sort of a mystery. This magnet bar came from somewhere that I can't recall removing. It looks like the same bars that are inserted in the stator. None of them are missing. All four are there. Go figure. Haha

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Posted
48 minutes ago, Vic Valencheck said:

I ran into a couple of issues while restoring the Arctic Aire. First of all the front bearing is very sloppy inside the bearing holder. Is there a fix for that or does there have to be a replacement? I think the bearing itself is good.

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Try using a wide enough flat head screwdriver or tool of choice and insert it between the housing and those 4 tangs holding the bearing and give the screwdriver some light taps to attempt to compress those tangs a little tighter to snug the floating bearing.

Posted

What your arrow is pointing too appears to be integral with your stator laminations.  The little magnetic thingy is probably compliments of some kid sticking it into the motor housing. 🙂

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Posted

Spartan is the exact same fan as an Arctic Aire, but was a rebadge for Montgomery Ward. The model number lists it as a 1948

Posted

I tried tightening up  the tabs with a screwdriver and accidentally popped off the cover. Now it's easier to work on it. Sometimes accidents can make the job easier but few and far between. Haha

The bearing is made of steel. Could be the oil infused type. There are two wool pads used to hold the oil. 

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Posted

In 1927, Carl Breer observed that a car's clutch would slip when oil, grease, or graphite was packed in. GM made a bushing of compressed powdered copper and graphite, but it crumbled. He hired an outside engineer, paired him with metallurgist Bill Caulkins, and helped them work on a new way to make self-lubricating bearings.

Together, Sherwood and Caulkins were able to compress powdered copper (88.5%) and tin (10%) with some graphite (1.5%) in a die, heat treating it in a furnace in the absence of oxygen (a process called "sintering").

The resulting metal was "astonishingly high in physical strength" and about 40% porous; so they put it into a high vacuum, then released the vacuum by exposing it to oil, rather than air. They finished up by pressuring the oil, forcing it into the metal of the bearing. When the final product was clean, it seemed dry; but when there was friction, the higher temperature brought the oil out. It was re-absorbed when the temperature dropped again.


About a third of the volume of the "Oilite® " bearings were oil; so much that they usually needed no service after installation. Oilite bearings would be used in distributors, generators, starters, and ball joints as well as water pump and clutch pilots, starting around 1932.

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Posted (edited)

The GE Gosling design fans have Oilite bearings in them. The first example I purchased the rotor shaft was frozen in the bearings due to the oilite bearings being varnished and dry. When I broke the fan down for restoration, I center drilled a hole into the channel in the oilite bearings so future added lubrication could seep into the bearing shaft channel fast when needed. 

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Edited by Russ Huber
Posted

Happy New Year everyone!

I cleaned up all the parts in the bearing compartment. Straightened out the brass retainer and but everything back together. Said a llittle prayer and turned it on. Couldn't believe it, it started right up, runs smooth and quiet! 

The next thing I plan on doing is getting the steel blade chrome plated. I know it will cost more than the fan but it should look real cool. 

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