Thursday, December 1, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
There was smoke, but no fire...
The first half of the tale of Halloween.
In the course of my evening, I got a little work done on a few projects, notably I made an adjustment to the Elco No 7 capacitor situation. I found some 630V .1uf mylar film caps, put them on the breadboard and wired them in to see if they offered better performance over the ceramic film caps I've been using.
I started the experiment with 6, then 5, then 4, then 3 to observe the difference in output. As I started to play around a bit with 3, the overall output was much, much stronger, and I wasn't really paying so much attention to the unit itself, but the spark length from the electrode to the tweezers in my hand. A couple of minutes had passed by this point, and while that is really nothing in terms of what the caps should be able to handle, fine white smoke suddenly started to waft upwards at me. I killed the power, and looked down to see the corners of the mylar caps blackened and bubbling which subsided after about 5 seconds of the power being off. So that clearly won't work.
After disposing of my electronic popcorn, I repeated the same experiment with 3 ceramic caps, which are 1000V rated, which worked like a champ. I had previously replaced the guts of the "condenser" shell with 6 ceramic caps, but the output was way too weak. My theory was flawed, in that by lengthening the pulse out, that there would be greater peak output. What I failed to appreciate was that while it might have increased peak voltage, the duty cycle actually would be shorter due to the additional charge/discharge time. New knowledge in hand, I removed half the caps, and it's been running much more like its former self. I will eventually try dropping down to .2uf, but I also need to make sure that I'm not otherwise overheating the coils or anything else that will be a nightmare to repair/fix. Burning out caps isn't ideal, but is a hell of a lot easier to fix than trying to have a 100 year old coil rebuilt.
At any rate, I did manage to take a picture of the 2 visibly burned up caps, after thinking I should probably document the failure. I stuck them back into the breadboard haphazardly for the picture.
So after a little bit of conferring with the Tinkerer, more measurements will be needed to validate that the voltage at the caps remains <550V when running with reduced capacitance compared to the original cap that was in it. Regardless, the voltage should still not be exceeding 1kv.
In the course of my evening, I got a little work done on a few projects, notably I made an adjustment to the Elco No 7 capacitor situation. I found some 630V .1uf mylar film caps, put them on the breadboard and wired them in to see if they offered better performance over the ceramic film caps I've been using.
I started the experiment with 6, then 5, then 4, then 3 to observe the difference in output. As I started to play around a bit with 3, the overall output was much, much stronger, and I wasn't really paying so much attention to the unit itself, but the spark length from the electrode to the tweezers in my hand. A couple of minutes had passed by this point, and while that is really nothing in terms of what the caps should be able to handle, fine white smoke suddenly started to waft upwards at me. I killed the power, and looked down to see the corners of the mylar caps blackened and bubbling which subsided after about 5 seconds of the power being off. So that clearly won't work.
After disposing of my electronic popcorn, I repeated the same experiment with 3 ceramic caps, which are 1000V rated, which worked like a champ. I had previously replaced the guts of the "condenser" shell with 6 ceramic caps, but the output was way too weak. My theory was flawed, in that by lengthening the pulse out, that there would be greater peak output. What I failed to appreciate was that while it might have increased peak voltage, the duty cycle actually would be shorter due to the additional charge/discharge time. New knowledge in hand, I removed half the caps, and it's been running much more like its former self. I will eventually try dropping down to .2uf, but I also need to make sure that I'm not otherwise overheating the coils or anything else that will be a nightmare to repair/fix. Burning out caps isn't ideal, but is a hell of a lot easier to fix than trying to have a 100 year old coil rebuilt.
At any rate, I did manage to take a picture of the 2 visibly burned up caps, after thinking I should probably document the failure. I stuck them back into the breadboard haphazardly for the picture.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
The Ebay special, Elco style.
So I've been a little behind in updating, finally having a little free time now to write.
A couple weeks ago, I was trolling around ebay looking for Violet Rays of the vintage sort. In particular, the Elco models. There but before my eyes appears a Model 12, in what looks like rough, but workable shape. The price couldn't be beat, so after a little mental deliberation, and conferring with the Bard, I decide, what the hell. I buy it. As if I needed another project.
It duly arrives, a week and change later, and while the insides were packed brilliantly, the outside was loose in the shipping box, and had been kicked around by UPS for a week. The lid was no longer attached to the frame of the box, and some other incidental damage. I was not pleased. Because the price was good, I wasn't going to make a scene about it on ebay, but at the same time, I made my point to the seller about packing it with some padding around it. The seller was very good about it, but it's still a mess. I haven't tested the glass, and am working on the metal electrodes. More pictures will be forthcoming once I get it apart and see how the back side of it is set up. It's significantly more complex than the No. 7, so I'm curious as to what exactly the binding posts are delivering power wise. This thing also included some vibrator attachments, which would have gone along with the kit originally, but the vibrator itself isn't with it. At any rate, here's what we're starting with...
A couple weeks ago, I was trolling around ebay looking for Violet Rays of the vintage sort. In particular, the Elco models. There but before my eyes appears a Model 12, in what looks like rough, but workable shape. The price couldn't be beat, so after a little mental deliberation, and conferring with the Bard, I decide, what the hell. I buy it. As if I needed another project.
It duly arrives, a week and change later, and while the insides were packed brilliantly, the outside was loose in the shipping box, and had been kicked around by UPS for a week. The lid was no longer attached to the frame of the box, and some other incidental damage. I was not pleased. Because the price was good, I wasn't going to make a scene about it on ebay, but at the same time, I made my point to the seller about packing it with some padding around it. The seller was very good about it, but it's still a mess. I haven't tested the glass, and am working on the metal electrodes. More pictures will be forthcoming once I get it apart and see how the back side of it is set up. It's significantly more complex than the No. 7, so I'm curious as to what exactly the binding posts are delivering power wise. This thing also included some vibrator attachments, which would have gone along with the kit originally, but the vibrator itself isn't with it. At any rate, here's what we're starting with...
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Enter The Electrician...Updated!
The Bard and the Devil had previously prepared me for what was to
become my indoctrination into the Saturday Irregulars, through a number
of various amusing tales. I went in fully expecting to get the fresh
meat grilling, and was actually quite surprised.
Once we had arrived, the usual social introductions were made, and everyone returned to their perches on the floor or couches. Farthest from me was (nicknames courtesy of the Devil's blog) The Balance, on his right the Psychiatrist (on temporary loan from the military), The Molester, The Jedi, Doomhammer, then Myself, the Bard was next to me, and a short while later, Foxy Moxy on the opposite end of the couch from the Balance. The Balance decrees proper introductions are in order. Around the makeshift circle we go, with some various bits of name, rank and serial number, usually accompanied by the answer to "so, what have you been doing lately?" and so on. Naturally, I'm last being my first time.
The attention now is shifted over to me, and who I am. It starts out innocently enough, with my name and what I do for work, and all that. While they have not met me, as such before, some already know about some of my more interesting aspects. They know me from the Devil's blog as "The Electrician". At the reiteration of this fact to the crowd, the wandering eyes have come back to look at me squarely. Momentarily I wonder how much the Bard and Devil have primed the audience over the previous 6 months.
The Balance starts in with the questions, the exact details of which I cannot recall, but to the effect of "Explain the electrical stuff to us." We start with the Erostek boxes, and their operation. They are similar to medical TENS units. (TENS stands for Transcutaneous Electro Nerve Stimulation, if you're curious.) The Erostek boxes offer a much greater range of control and specifically designed patterns to create pleasurable sensations. I get into the waveform output of the medical units, and then building on how the Erostek units take that a step farther (or several). We also get into the voltage and that it is and AC current source, but much lower voltage and way less amperage than your normal household outlet. The Balance, as it happens, starts to become the only person in the room who is still following my explanation. His electrical engineering background now revealed, we continue.
The Balance now satisfied with my explanation of the Erostek/TENS type products shifts his questions to the Violet Wands.
"What is the difference then between the TENS units and a Violet Wand?" The Balance asks.
I explain that the only really common element is that they use electricity. The Violet wand uses a tuned pulse circuit, with a spark-gap interrupter to set the initial pulse, which feeds a primary coil, stepping up the line voltage to around 500VAC, which is then fed through a capacitor into a kicking coil (a high-voltage transformer, or tesla coil), raising the output to 10-50kV, and at a frequency of about 1/2MHz. The output is then used with some sort of air-gapped electrode, producing sparks of greater length as the output/voltage increases. The Bard also adds in the story of herself, the Devil, and Young Kubrick holding up the metallic fabric recently acquired, and then I proceed to put on a lightning show in her living room. Which was quite a bit of fun, I might add. The question of the sensation comes up, and as I try to find the words, the Bard looks at me, and just says "Stingy." I add in a bit about it being stingy, and if done for a while, leaves a bit of a sunburn like feeling behind, but can be fairly easily handled with some aloe. If the electrode is placed directly against the skin, however, it will simply get a bit warm.
The focus now returns back to the Erostek boxes.
"So, what does it FEEL like?"
The burning question everyone wants answered. The crowd was anticipating that the equipment was coming along, and would have had I known. I turned to the Bard and asked why didn't we bring it, and she shrugs and tells me no one made the request. I explain the sensation, in terms of say a hand gripping a muscle, or giving a massage, except that there is no tactile response, it is your muscles doing it themselves, in a very scalable, controllable, repetitive way. I attempt to demonstrate on myself using my hand on the opposite forearm as an example of the motion that it generally feels like if it were someone doing it. The ghost sensation is a factor though. It extricates the human element from the equation entirely. This will come into play later.
Foxy asks about piercings and how they factor into it, which is an important consideration when selecting electrode locations. The short answer is to not allow any sort of conductive piercing jewelry to be in contact with electrodes, but we do discuss it at length. As part of the safety briefing portion of the conversation, explaining how you should never set electrodes up in such a way that current can cross the chest cavity across the front was the other key point. When it doubt, ask someone who knows. I've seen professionally shot videos of people who did not obey these rules. Do not be the next joke at the firehouse, or worse.
At some point, the living room is abandoned for the kitchen. I don't recall why, but it happened. The Bard and the Psychiatrist went out for a smoke at that juncture. After what seemed like they could have smoked a half carton, they reappeared. Around the kitchen table sat the Balance at the head, Foxy on his left, the Molester, The Jedi, and Doomhammer. They discussed other things, giving me a bit of time to observe and absorb. After standing for a while, I took a seat next to the Bard, having just returned from placating the nicotine gods.
The Balance and I struck up further conversation.
"So, what do you get out of this stuff?" he asks.
Having relatively glossed over the practical possibilities, I started to further explain the insertables vs. the pads. This is where the discussion became incredibly amusing. I start to explain the how the insertables can create different sensations by virtue of their shape or style. Basically it can do one of two things, sometimes both: prostate stimulation, or a sort of sex like sensation of muscle contractions. Shape, size, and electrode location and your unique anatomy dictate these possibilities. All of a sudden, the boys all start to see how incredibly interesting this could be. I begin to ask them, Do you like the idea of a threesome without the threesome? This can replicate some of that. Being able to apply that same precise amount of stimulation in the same place, as long as you can stand or want it? That can all be arranged. Explaining some of the combinations to the Balance, the change in expression on his face tells me he gets it now.
"The other guys need to hear about this, do you mind telling them?" the Balance asks quickly, as to not lose the excitement of the moment.
"No, not at all. I just have to run to the bathroom first." I reply.
I was barely washing my hands in the bathroom before I can hear the Balance's voice recounting my moments old explanation to the guys. I stifle a chuckle, and return to my seat, with little left to recount, as the cat is well out of the bag now. They all get it.
They've entered the world of The Electrician.
Once we had arrived, the usual social introductions were made, and everyone returned to their perches on the floor or couches. Farthest from me was (nicknames courtesy of the Devil's blog) The Balance, on his right the Psychiatrist (on temporary loan from the military), The Molester, The Jedi, Doomhammer, then Myself, the Bard was next to me, and a short while later, Foxy Moxy on the opposite end of the couch from the Balance. The Balance decrees proper introductions are in order. Around the makeshift circle we go, with some various bits of name, rank and serial number, usually accompanied by the answer to "so, what have you been doing lately?" and so on. Naturally, I'm last being my first time.
The attention now is shifted over to me, and who I am. It starts out innocently enough, with my name and what I do for work, and all that. While they have not met me, as such before, some already know about some of my more interesting aspects. They know me from the Devil's blog as "The Electrician". At the reiteration of this fact to the crowd, the wandering eyes have come back to look at me squarely. Momentarily I wonder how much the Bard and Devil have primed the audience over the previous 6 months.
The Balance starts in with the questions, the exact details of which I cannot recall, but to the effect of "Explain the electrical stuff to us." We start with the Erostek boxes, and their operation. They are similar to medical TENS units. (TENS stands for Transcutaneous Electro Nerve Stimulation, if you're curious.) The Erostek boxes offer a much greater range of control and specifically designed patterns to create pleasurable sensations. I get into the waveform output of the medical units, and then building on how the Erostek units take that a step farther (or several). We also get into the voltage and that it is and AC current source, but much lower voltage and way less amperage than your normal household outlet. The Balance, as it happens, starts to become the only person in the room who is still following my explanation. His electrical engineering background now revealed, we continue.
The Balance now satisfied with my explanation of the Erostek/TENS type products shifts his questions to the Violet Wands.
"What is the difference then between the TENS units and a Violet Wand?" The Balance asks.
I explain that the only really common element is that they use electricity. The Violet wand uses a tuned pulse circuit, with a spark-gap interrupter to set the initial pulse, which feeds a primary coil, stepping up the line voltage to around 500VAC, which is then fed through a capacitor into a kicking coil (a high-voltage transformer, or tesla coil), raising the output to 10-50kV, and at a frequency of about 1/2MHz. The output is then used with some sort of air-gapped electrode, producing sparks of greater length as the output/voltage increases. The Bard also adds in the story of herself, the Devil, and Young Kubrick holding up the metallic fabric recently acquired, and then I proceed to put on a lightning show in her living room. Which was quite a bit of fun, I might add. The question of the sensation comes up, and as I try to find the words, the Bard looks at me, and just says "Stingy." I add in a bit about it being stingy, and if done for a while, leaves a bit of a sunburn like feeling behind, but can be fairly easily handled with some aloe. If the electrode is placed directly against the skin, however, it will simply get a bit warm.
The focus now returns back to the Erostek boxes.
"So, what does it FEEL like?"
The burning question everyone wants answered. The crowd was anticipating that the equipment was coming along, and would have had I known. I turned to the Bard and asked why didn't we bring it, and she shrugs and tells me no one made the request. I explain the sensation, in terms of say a hand gripping a muscle, or giving a massage, except that there is no tactile response, it is your muscles doing it themselves, in a very scalable, controllable, repetitive way. I attempt to demonstrate on myself using my hand on the opposite forearm as an example of the motion that it generally feels like if it were someone doing it. The ghost sensation is a factor though. It extricates the human element from the equation entirely. This will come into play later.
Foxy asks about piercings and how they factor into it, which is an important consideration when selecting electrode locations. The short answer is to not allow any sort of conductive piercing jewelry to be in contact with electrodes, but we do discuss it at length. As part of the safety briefing portion of the conversation, explaining how you should never set electrodes up in such a way that current can cross the chest cavity across the front was the other key point. When it doubt, ask someone who knows. I've seen professionally shot videos of people who did not obey these rules. Do not be the next joke at the firehouse, or worse.
At some point, the living room is abandoned for the kitchen. I don't recall why, but it happened. The Bard and the Psychiatrist went out for a smoke at that juncture. After what seemed like they could have smoked a half carton, they reappeared. Around the kitchen table sat the Balance at the head, Foxy on his left, the Molester, The Jedi, and Doomhammer. They discussed other things, giving me a bit of time to observe and absorb. After standing for a while, I took a seat next to the Bard, having just returned from placating the nicotine gods.
The Balance and I struck up further conversation.
"So, what do you get out of this stuff?" he asks.
Having relatively glossed over the practical possibilities, I started to further explain the insertables vs. the pads. This is where the discussion became incredibly amusing. I start to explain the how the insertables can create different sensations by virtue of their shape or style. Basically it can do one of two things, sometimes both: prostate stimulation, or a sort of sex like sensation of muscle contractions. Shape, size, and electrode location and your unique anatomy dictate these possibilities. All of a sudden, the boys all start to see how incredibly interesting this could be. I begin to ask them, Do you like the idea of a threesome without the threesome? This can replicate some of that. Being able to apply that same precise amount of stimulation in the same place, as long as you can stand or want it? That can all be arranged. Explaining some of the combinations to the Balance, the change in expression on his face tells me he gets it now.
"The other guys need to hear about this, do you mind telling them?" the Balance asks quickly, as to not lose the excitement of the moment.
"No, not at all. I just have to run to the bathroom first." I reply.
I was barely washing my hands in the bathroom before I can hear the Balance's voice recounting my moments old explanation to the guys. I stifle a chuckle, and return to my seat, with little left to recount, as the cat is well out of the bag now. They all get it.
They've entered the world of The Electrician.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
The 4 hour "restoration"
Continuing from the previous post, I did indeed get another Type C. With the Devil's impending return to the Korean peninsula, and the first of the Type C's still completely disassembled and partially restored, I decided to challenge myself: Test, repair and clean up this one as much as possible within the course of an evening.
Since I had only one evening available, I had to make it count. I knew that it worked; I had previously oiled it, and checked that the motor was not locked up. Operationally, before I started working on it, the speed controls were pretty loose and mushy, a fair amount of sparks were visible from the brushes, etc.
At the anointed time, I set about stripping it down only as far as was necessary, and decided that under no circumstances should the main housing be opened up, due to how much else there was to accomplish. I did take the front horn section of the housing off, along with the piston and washers, and operating rod. The retaining screws for, and the brushes themselves also were removed. This was partially to resurface the brushes, clean the brush tubes, and also allow better access to the commutator, which was full of carbon buildup from the brushes or oil.
The front half, was not in horrible shape, but clearly was in need of a thorough cleaning, lubrication, and polishing. The inside of the horn section of the housing was caked with oil/grease/something to the extent that it had built up a 1/16th inch thick layer that had to be scraped out. I took brasso to the piston, the brass coupling on the motor shaft, and the remaining metal parts, to help break down any additional oil, and shine them up a little. Time did not allow for polishing with the dremel and felt wheel. I then took the Mag and Aluminum wheel polish to the outside of all the housing parts, and cleaned them up as much as reasonably could be done.
In the rear half, I had removed the brushes and retaining screws to clean the brush tubes, and commutator. Whoever had this thing took HB very, very seriously about oiling it. To the extent that I suspect they over-oiled it, given how much residual lubrication was in the front half, and the consistency of the fouling on the commutator and interior of the rear housing. To address that, I put a little brasso on a q-tip and cleaned up the commutator as best I could, given the lack of physical access to it. This combination also was used on the brush tubes, speed control contacts, and prongs of the plug. The brushes also were ground flat again with the dremel. The interior body of the housing is still pretty messy, but until I can break it down entirely, that's just how it has to be. I took brasso to the build plate, which was almost black with grime and tarnish. It cleaned up reasonably well, but obviously will be much better when proper time and attention can be given to it. The rest of the rear housing was cleaned up with the wheel polish as well. There's still plenty of dirt, grease, and oxidation left to tackle when I have it apart, much less the dings and scratches.
In all: Success! It runs much better than it did when I started and while this is no substitute for the "usual" treatment the others have received, it was enough that I could enjoy sharing the "Type C Experience" with others.
I did take a handful of pictures for this, but due to the temporary nature of this sort of job, I didn't get too crazy about it. There are a handful of before and after pictures, and to give you a qualitative comparison of the effort, there are some pictures of this one (640814) compared to the mocked up housing of the other Type C that I've been working on (433767).
The before pictures:
These make it a little easier to see just how much improvement the polishing process yields.
And now, the after pictures...
Enjoy...
Since I had only one evening available, I had to make it count. I knew that it worked; I had previously oiled it, and checked that the motor was not locked up. Operationally, before I started working on it, the speed controls were pretty loose and mushy, a fair amount of sparks were visible from the brushes, etc.
At the anointed time, I set about stripping it down only as far as was necessary, and decided that under no circumstances should the main housing be opened up, due to how much else there was to accomplish. I did take the front horn section of the housing off, along with the piston and washers, and operating rod. The retaining screws for, and the brushes themselves also were removed. This was partially to resurface the brushes, clean the brush tubes, and also allow better access to the commutator, which was full of carbon buildup from the brushes or oil.
The front half, was not in horrible shape, but clearly was in need of a thorough cleaning, lubrication, and polishing. The inside of the horn section of the housing was caked with oil/grease/something to the extent that it had built up a 1/16th inch thick layer that had to be scraped out. I took brasso to the piston, the brass coupling on the motor shaft, and the remaining metal parts, to help break down any additional oil, and shine them up a little. Time did not allow for polishing with the dremel and felt wheel. I then took the Mag and Aluminum wheel polish to the outside of all the housing parts, and cleaned them up as much as reasonably could be done.
In the rear half, I had removed the brushes and retaining screws to clean the brush tubes, and commutator. Whoever had this thing took HB very, very seriously about oiling it. To the extent that I suspect they over-oiled it, given how much residual lubrication was in the front half, and the consistency of the fouling on the commutator and interior of the rear housing. To address that, I put a little brasso on a q-tip and cleaned up the commutator as best I could, given the lack of physical access to it. This combination also was used on the brush tubes, speed control contacts, and prongs of the plug. The brushes also were ground flat again with the dremel. The interior body of the housing is still pretty messy, but until I can break it down entirely, that's just how it has to be. I took brasso to the build plate, which was almost black with grime and tarnish. It cleaned up reasonably well, but obviously will be much better when proper time and attention can be given to it. The rest of the rear housing was cleaned up with the wheel polish as well. There's still plenty of dirt, grease, and oxidation left to tackle when I have it apart, much less the dings and scratches.
In all: Success! It runs much better than it did when I started and while this is no substitute for the "usual" treatment the others have received, it was enough that I could enjoy sharing the "Type C Experience" with others.
I did take a handful of pictures for this, but due to the temporary nature of this sort of job, I didn't get too crazy about it. There are a handful of before and after pictures, and to give you a qualitative comparison of the effort, there are some pictures of this one (640814) compared to the mocked up housing of the other Type C that I've been working on (433767).
The before pictures:
These make it a little easier to see just how much improvement the polishing process yields.
And now, the after pictures...
Enjoy...
Thursday, September 29, 2011
White Cross vs. HB Type C.
As I wrote the previous 2 posts, another Type C was on it's way. It has arrived, and due to the interest that the other one had generated, and my inability to demonstrate its power to the Bard, and Young Kubrick, who recently was indoctrinated to the ways of the White Cross.
Yesterday I went over to the Bard's to help put her kitchen back together after repainting, and took with the new, and hastily cleaned up Type C. Once we were finished with the appliance wrangling and related post-painting tasks, the hilarity could really begin.
We move into the living room, the Bard goes and fishes out the White Cross from the bedroom, for comparison. I get the Type C out of the case, having only done a bit of cleaning/polishing on it the night before. We briefly compare the differences in size between the two, with the Type C being bigger in every dimension. It doesn't seem so different until you put them next to each other. I plug each in and we start out with the WC, being the benchmark by which the Type C shall be judged. Both the Bard and Kubrick have previously experienced the WC, so it's a short refresher course. With some trepidation and amusement, we set the WC aside, and fire up the Type C.
It's noticeably louder than the WC, which is partially because it is looser fitting since some of the output bushings have deteriorated and shrank over time. These are similar to the leather washers from the WC, but shaped differently. The other instantly obvious difference to whoever is wielding it, is the amount of vibration that is being transmitted into the handle and operators hand. After shutting it off, your hand still feels like its shaking and tingly, as though using a weedwacker.
At first, the Bard runs her fingertips along the edge of the ball attachment that was currently screwed into it. She shuddered at the difference in intensity, then became wide eyed, almost giggly with the order of magnitude it has over the WC.
Kubrick is next, and puts it onto his leg, about an inch above the knee, as I suggested. The vibration is so strong that it will be felt all the way to the toes. His gaze snaps forward, equally impressed and amazed at the difference in intensity. He then puts it onto the back of his neck, craning his head a bit and continues on about how this is the strongest thing he has ever felt. There is no argument it is the strongest vibrator we've ever encountered.
Following that, I took out the disc attachment, which is a flat bakelite disc about 3" in diameter. I start it up again, and put it down on the Bard's thigh, just above the knee as with Kubrick, and the increase in strength of the sensation is also apparent. The ball is better for deep tissue, but there is just so much power on tap the disc is almost better because it can disperse that force over a wider area, but still with the same effect. It's amazing.
I'll dedicate another post to visually introducing it, and the evening's cleanup work that went into it later.
Yesterday I went over to the Bard's to help put her kitchen back together after repainting, and took with the new, and hastily cleaned up Type C. Once we were finished with the appliance wrangling and related post-painting tasks, the hilarity could really begin.
We move into the living room, the Bard goes and fishes out the White Cross from the bedroom, for comparison. I get the Type C out of the case, having only done a bit of cleaning/polishing on it the night before. We briefly compare the differences in size between the two, with the Type C being bigger in every dimension. It doesn't seem so different until you put them next to each other. I plug each in and we start out with the WC, being the benchmark by which the Type C shall be judged. Both the Bard and Kubrick have previously experienced the WC, so it's a short refresher course. With some trepidation and amusement, we set the WC aside, and fire up the Type C.
It's noticeably louder than the WC, which is partially because it is looser fitting since some of the output bushings have deteriorated and shrank over time. These are similar to the leather washers from the WC, but shaped differently. The other instantly obvious difference to whoever is wielding it, is the amount of vibration that is being transmitted into the handle and operators hand. After shutting it off, your hand still feels like its shaking and tingly, as though using a weedwacker.
At first, the Bard runs her fingertips along the edge of the ball attachment that was currently screwed into it. She shuddered at the difference in intensity, then became wide eyed, almost giggly with the order of magnitude it has over the WC.
Kubrick is next, and puts it onto his leg, about an inch above the knee, as I suggested. The vibration is so strong that it will be felt all the way to the toes. His gaze snaps forward, equally impressed and amazed at the difference in intensity. He then puts it onto the back of his neck, craning his head a bit and continues on about how this is the strongest thing he has ever felt. There is no argument it is the strongest vibrator we've ever encountered.
Following that, I took out the disc attachment, which is a flat bakelite disc about 3" in diameter. I start it up again, and put it down on the Bard's thigh, just above the knee as with Kubrick, and the increase in strength of the sensation is also apparent. The ball is better for deep tissue, but there is just so much power on tap the disc is almost better because it can disperse that force over a wider area, but still with the same effect. It's amazing.
I'll dedicate another post to visually introducing it, and the evening's cleanup work that went into it later.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Hamilton Beach Type C 767, starting to look like something...
Following on the work in the previous post, the Type C is really starting to look like something.
With the rear housing now separated from the internal components, cleaning and polishing could finally begin. It started with the usual treatment: Dawn, an old toothbrush and hot water. Following that, was Brasso and toothbrush. The Brasso seems to do very well on getting out anything that remains, but even with the softest of toothbrushes, leaves extremely fine scratches behind on the polished surfaces. This is not a huge problem, because the next step with the felt wheel and polishing compound is more than capable of smoothing these out. I elected to not use the fine abrasive, and try instead one of the more aggressive polishing compounds. The front housing elements needing still more polishing to remove the abrasive wheel marks after 2 rounds of effort was enough incentive to try a different way. In the end, the more aggressive compound proved to be a superior means of getting the job done. I did follow up the more aggressive compound with some jeweler's rouge. There's still room for improvement, but I don't think it is likely without better equipment.
The front housing pieces also received more of the wheel/compound treatment, in what amounts to their third round of polishing. Each round has consisted of at least 2 applications, usually one each of aggressive (emery) and fine (jeweler's rouge). Tripoli has also been used, with results on the aluminum similar to jeweler's rouge. After every session, the parts have been getting cleaned up with Mother's Mag and Aluminum Wheel Polish, too. This is mostly to remove the oily residues of the polishing compounds, and because it darkens as it is worked over the surface, it fills in and helps identify problem areas that need more attention. It does tend to take the wind out of the sails a bit after spending hours meticulously polishing these parts to what looks like perfection, only to find more that needs to be done, but I digress.
Depending on the previous owners, some of these have been rather meticulously cared for, and others look (and often smell) like they've been left in a barn for the last 30 years. This Type C is not terribly worse for wear, all things considered. Similarly, the other Type A's that I am working on vary a bit, with almost no dents at all, and some are pretty beat up. Fortunately, these are only cosmetic issues.
Speaking of cosmetic issues, one of the next things on the agenda is to find an effective sealant/coating/finish to keep the now brightly polished aluminum from oxidizing. I've discovered a couple of possible options, but have yet to test them. So far I've tested, and ruled out, using automotive paste wax. It's not quite enough to prevent minor surface oxidation. The way I tested it was simply by leaving them wrapped up in a towel after being polished and waxed, and left alone for about a month, and when I unwrapped them, small areas were dull or dark. I can only imagine that it would be worse if they had been handled and used, and then put away.
I did spend a small amount of time polishing the adapter for the handle, but only working on the areas that would be visible after reassembly. It appears chromed, but the rough machining marks are reminiscent of their aluminum parts (compare with the bottom housings of the Type A's where the handle goes.) It cleaned up rather well. Finding a shop that will do small batch chroming jobs is becoming more of a necessity than luxury so I can get some of these sorts of parts looking new again if not better than new.
Without further delay, the visual portion of the show:
With the rear housing now separated from the internal components, cleaning and polishing could finally begin. It started with the usual treatment: Dawn, an old toothbrush and hot water. Following that, was Brasso and toothbrush. The Brasso seems to do very well on getting out anything that remains, but even with the softest of toothbrushes, leaves extremely fine scratches behind on the polished surfaces. This is not a huge problem, because the next step with the felt wheel and polishing compound is more than capable of smoothing these out. I elected to not use the fine abrasive, and try instead one of the more aggressive polishing compounds. The front housing elements needing still more polishing to remove the abrasive wheel marks after 2 rounds of effort was enough incentive to try a different way. In the end, the more aggressive compound proved to be a superior means of getting the job done. I did follow up the more aggressive compound with some jeweler's rouge. There's still room for improvement, but I don't think it is likely without better equipment.
The front housing pieces also received more of the wheel/compound treatment, in what amounts to their third round of polishing. Each round has consisted of at least 2 applications, usually one each of aggressive (emery) and fine (jeweler's rouge). Tripoli has also been used, with results on the aluminum similar to jeweler's rouge. After every session, the parts have been getting cleaned up with Mother's Mag and Aluminum Wheel Polish, too. This is mostly to remove the oily residues of the polishing compounds, and because it darkens as it is worked over the surface, it fills in and helps identify problem areas that need more attention. It does tend to take the wind out of the sails a bit after spending hours meticulously polishing these parts to what looks like perfection, only to find more that needs to be done, but I digress.
Depending on the previous owners, some of these have been rather meticulously cared for, and others look (and often smell) like they've been left in a barn for the last 30 years. This Type C is not terribly worse for wear, all things considered. Similarly, the other Type A's that I am working on vary a bit, with almost no dents at all, and some are pretty beat up. Fortunately, these are only cosmetic issues.
Speaking of cosmetic issues, one of the next things on the agenda is to find an effective sealant/coating/finish to keep the now brightly polished aluminum from oxidizing. I've discovered a couple of possible options, but have yet to test them. So far I've tested, and ruled out, using automotive paste wax. It's not quite enough to prevent minor surface oxidation. The way I tested it was simply by leaving them wrapped up in a towel after being polished and waxed, and left alone for about a month, and when I unwrapped them, small areas were dull or dark. I can only imagine that it would be worse if they had been handled and used, and then put away.
I did spend a small amount of time polishing the adapter for the handle, but only working on the areas that would be visible after reassembly. It appears chromed, but the rough machining marks are reminiscent of their aluminum parts (compare with the bottom housings of the Type A's where the handle goes.) It cleaned up rather well. Finding a shop that will do small batch chroming jobs is becoming more of a necessity than luxury so I can get some of these sorts of parts looking new again if not better than new.
Without further delay, the visual portion of the show:
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