James Holava Posted December 17, 2023 Share Posted December 17, 2023 I am restoring this GE AK1 fan and have a few questions I could use some feedback on. I have searched for but can not find any information on the coil used on this 3 speed switch Is this the original, or did someone replace it at some point? All the pictures and videos I find have what looks more like a transformer on the switch for this type of fan. What is this? Could that be asbestos covering a wire coil? Is this safe to use? Measured from first nut on right to third nut at about 115 ohms. From first to second measures open and form second to 3rd about 68 ohms. Does not change with switch position. I did test the fan on my dbt before I disassembled it. It powered on, but was turning slow. I have also searched for what color this fan is, all I can find is about what green paint to use on similar 1930s fans. What color is this? I would call it brownish, copper, or bronze. Any recommendations for available rattle can color to keep it as close to original as possible? Any comments, feedback, or questions would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Lindsey Posted December 17, 2023 Share Posted December 17, 2023 That is a DC (Direct Current) fan. Did you plug it into normal AC power? If you did I wouldn't recommend it going forward. You need a bridge rectifier to run on AC. Yes that is asbestos. Leave it. Your fan was dark green to begin with. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared DelOrfano Posted December 17, 2023 Share Posted December 17, 2023 Here is the speed coil from my AK1, as well as some photos of the remnants of the original paint! I ended up painting it Rustoleum Charleston Green and was pleased with the results. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Holava Posted December 18, 2023 Author Share Posted December 18, 2023 3 hours ago, Anthony Lindsey said: That is a DC (Direct Current) fan. Did you plug it into normal AC power? If you did I wouldn't recommend it going forward. You need a bridge rectifier to run on AC. Yes that is asbestos. Leave it. Your fan was dark green to begin with. Thanks for the feedback, I will do some homework on DC Fans. I know how to build a bridge rectifier, I work on vintage tube stereos and often replace the selenium rectifiers with a diode bridge. If there are any topics or wiring diagrams for how to wire this in a fan, please point me in the right direction. I thought thats what it looked like. Seems like it had a top bracket holding it down with the bolt thats missing. I will have to find a replacement. I guess this was painted once before in the past then. Interesting, I will go with the Rustoleum Charleston Green.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Holava Posted December 18, 2023 Author Share Posted December 18, 2023 3 hours ago, Jared DelOrfano said: Here is the speed coil from my AK1, as well as some photos of the remnants of the original paint! I ended up painting it Rustoleum Charleston Green and was pleased with the results. Looks great! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Lindsey Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 The other side of the motor tag should say DC as well as the voltage. You posted a picture of the other side of the tag which is Type DO for DC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared DelOrfano Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 1 hour ago, JAMES HOLAVA said: Looks great! Thanks! Mine is an AC model by the way. Here’s the catalog for 1930, the year the AK1 was produced. There’s some good info in here. https://cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16694coll20/id/15215/rec/2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Shirey Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 (edited) Charleston Green has been discontinued. Rustoleum has a Dark Hunter Green that might be close to the original. And you might want to repair the insulation tip on the speed lever. There’s live power on that metal showing there. Edited December 18, 2023 by Lane Shirey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared DelOrfano Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 @JAMES HOLAVA I bought a 3D printed switch insulator from @Seth Anderson. Used my Dremel to cut away some of the original switch, trimmed the switch insulator to the length for my fan, glued it on, then filled it with JB weld/sanded it smooth. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Shirey Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 Looks good Jared. On those curved ones JB weld works good and can be shaped into the S curve. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared DelOrfano Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 22 minutes ago, Lane Shirey said: Looks good Jared. On those curved ones JB weld works good and can be shaped into the S curve. That’s definitely what I ended up doing! Cut the switch insulator in half for mine because there was still enough of the original insulator to work for the bend in the switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Shirey Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 The problem with those is that the levers don’t easily slide out of the slot and people force them and break off the brittle tip of the insulator. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Holava Posted April 12 Author Share Posted April 12 I am getting back to this fan project. I completely disassembled the fan, bead blasted, primed and painted. Now I am looking at the full wave bridge rectifier and wiring it back up. Here is the picture of the full tag which shows 105/120 DC. If I just use a full wave bridge rectifier like I have seen suggested on some other posts, I would expect that would produce around 170V DC. Is this a problem for this fan? Do people just run it at a lower AC voltage via a variac? I have put a lot of work in to this fan and want to make sure I get this correct. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Holava Posted April 18 Author Share Posted April 18 On 4/12/2024 at 5:02 PM, James Holava said: I am getting back to this fan project. I completely disassembled the fan, bead blasted, primed and painted. Now I am looking at the full wave bridge rectifier and wiring it back up. Here is the picture of the full tag which shows 105/120 DC. If I just use a full wave bridge rectifier like I have seen suggested on some other posts, I would expect that would produce around 170V DC. Is this a problem for this fan? Do people just run it at a lower AC voltage via a variac? I have put a lot of work in to this fan and want to make sure I get this correct. I tested the DC voltage with bridge rectifier and the DC voltage is about the same as the AC Voltage set on my variac. So with the variac set to about 105VAC, seems to be about the right DC voltage for the fan. I have rewired and mounted the rectifier on the AC line before it connects to the switch. Reassembled the motor and it runs and oscillates as it should, almost.. I hear more noise than I was expecting from the motor? Seems to be more noise when it is in different positions when oscillating. Kind of a rattling sound, but not aways. Any suggestions on what might cause this, or is this normal? https://photos.app.goo.gl/rWXMedTNKB5sPR6c9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas Denney Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 James, I am very sorry that I didn't see this post early on. It is of course too late now to undo the unfortunate mistake that has been done, but you can still paint your fan the correct color. Your fan was original as you presented it, never green. The metallic bronze on your fan was a stock GE color being used at the time. See the example below: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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