Hamilton Beach Progress Part 2

The following night after the previous installment, I managed to find myself with some time and serious motivation to see what these parts will look like after some polishing...the very next day. The half-finished parts were practically mocking me to finish them. So, I did.


Starting off with the speed control contacts:

Next up, the motor brush tubes:

The commutator shafts were a little scratched, but the top end was definitely scarred by a very ill fitting bushing. This will ultimately be replaced with something that is snug and free-spinning, but the first step is to just get the gouges cleaned up a bit. While I was at it, I fixed the fan blades to be more similarly pitched and level, and the top brass bushing surface needs to be polished with the jeweler's rouge.

I took more pictures of the inside of the top housing, and did more cleanup inside, and polishing outside. I have not yet removed the swirl marks from the housing, but tried using some brasso to smooth them out. Not exactly stellar yet, but I will figure something out.

That's all for tonight, but more soon.

Hamilton Beach Progress

More progress being made on the HB. This time it was about a lot of little things. While it probably doesn't look like much was accomplished for a 3 hour block of solid work, it's my own fault for not taking the "before" pictures I should have. I'll pilfer a couple though from previous sets for some amount of reference.

Since my riveting prose is not why you are reading this, let's move on to the pictures.

To start with, the motor speed control contacts, they have been washed with soap and water, and then scrubbed clean with brasso and a toothbrush. They will next be polished with the dremel and jeweler's rouge and the bakelite insulators will be further polished with brasso and then sealed with paste wax. Getting these out of the lower housing was a bit nerve-wracking but in the end was no worse for wear.

Next up, the motor brush tubes, which rest against the speed control contacts above. These have also only been washed, and initially scrubbed with brasso and a toothbrush. The dremel and jeweler's rouge is next.

The brush tubes ride on this wooden ring, which floats on a machined pad at the bottom of the lower housing.
I am still a bit perplexed as to what I can do for it, or if I should to anything for it, save for rubbing some linseed oil into it, since it's a bit dry and has been washed now. I will have to get a clearer picture, I was a little too close up for the camera to focus sharply.

Now for one of my favorite parts, the build plate. The before and after is pretty dramatic.

From the above image, I started with a toothbrush and brasso, and cleaned out all of the lettering, sans the parts with red paint in the grooves. Once all of the surface was clean (as far as it can be), then the dremel and jeweler's rouge came out and brought out that mirror polish. Since there is still some work to be done, and I need paint to fill in the letters, I didn't bother trying to get every last bit of rouge out of the grooves and letters. The leftover rouge really just makes it look more like it did before I started, anyway. Following the last of the polishing for the evening, I applied paste wax and let it set up before buffing it off for pictures. This is only to prevent oxidation since I don't know how long it will be before I can finish it.

Even though no one would probably ever notice this, the reverse side also was given the same treatment. Having only a smooth surface, it was fairly quick to do, but it would bother me had I not done it. The fine line between detail oriented, and obsessive compulsive.

Next up is the lower housing, now that it has been freshly disassembled completely. I washed it out with soap and water (dawn) to degrease it, then with a toothbrush and brasso to get the remaining grease and oxidation out. The two larger openings at the bottom are for the speed control contacts at the top of this page, and much further polishing and sealing will need to happen to prevent the bright polish from dulling, which is already starting to happen at a very slight level. It is good to know that now, since nothing has been reassembled yet.

The rocker arm is the part that transmits the linear motion to the attachment. It has clearly been repaired before, evidenced by the solder on the area around the ball end. I am not sure how much I will do to this part, as the plating (nickel or tin) is worn in places, and I don't want to end up removing more of it to try to get a shiny finish. I need a way to get these parts electroplated, if I were to try to make it look brand new.

The ball end above, connects to this link. The link connects to the cam on the bottom half of the commutator shaft. The jagged metal you see is the crudest possible form of bushing imaginable. It appears to be aluminum tube that was roughly cut, and the burrs just hammered over.  It seems odd that everything else is relatively well made, and put together, so possibly something that someone else hacked together inside it? Hard to say.

The only attachment this unit came with, was a concentrically ribbed, flat bakelite pad. I started with the dawn and toothbrush, then the brasso and toothbrush, and then brasso on a paper towel to buff the bakelite. Following that up with some paste wax, and here we are.

 There were several small parts that I worked on mostly at the same time. Starting with the brass brush tube cap screws. They need additonal work, but won't take much.

The handle screw only was washed, and will get polished like the others.

The last item of the evening, was the stud that the rocker arm pivots on. This has only been washed, and will not need much additional work at all.

Overall, not bad for a few hours. There's plenty left to do, but it is shaping up quite nicely so far.