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...
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