Mod Iron Update: More Pics From WZ1M

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Gary sent me a few more shots of his progress with my mod transformer. I thought I'd post them here so folks can see what goes into rebuilding a big, gray chunk of iron. Looks quite a bit different than the original paper insulation shown in the previous post:

http://amfone.net/Amforum/index.php?topic=11077.0

Summer is here and Gary is busy again, like many of us. Last I heard, his wife had him painting the kitchen. I'll post more updates as they come in to me. I've been back on the air a few times since Dayton, but now have one leg of the dipole down. If it's not one thing....

[N3DRB The Derb]

Now place said varnished thang into a vacuum chamber with about -15 suckage and you got a lifetime deal. One of the vacuum chambers at the place i used to work for went down to -30. Guy walked by once and wanted to use it, and asked if there was anything in it. The engineer said, no, not even air. 

[WA1GFZ]

Back in my transformer days I built a CD ignition and needed a transformer for the inverter. We had some great mil epoxy. I yanked 30 inches on it and the stuff turned to foam. Coating each layer should hold it.

BTW notice how the lead wire is taped to the winding. I also put tape around each layer so the coil is wound against the sticky side. The tape sticks out each end of the layer. When I'm done the ends of the tape are flipped over the top on top of each other so the coil can't drift apart. I learned this trick when a winding was a bit wide to get extra turns on each layer. I had some high pot failures because turns drifted a bit.

That winding machine is a (KISS) work of art! Dahl eat your heart out this one will not sing.

[Rick K5IZ]

That is way cool!  Thanks for sharing, Todd.  There is no doubt, Gary is the man.  He's done a couple of things for me and not only do they work beautifully, but they look better than new!  I know you will be rockin' and rollin' when you get that baby back.

Rick

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Here's the latest, from a few days ago. Gary has since emailed to tell me the beastie is DONE and passed all tests with flying colors:

Todd:
   Its all together and passed the tests. Hy-Pot at 5KV and not a sign of
breakdown.


Below are some shots of the reinstalled laminations and Gary's rewinding shop.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Wow! Awesome work shop.

Can't wait to hear the "new" tranny back on the air.

[WA1GFZ]

See those 4 hunks of insulator sticking out of the core vertical.
That tells me you have a pro working on your iron. Sometimes we would use fish paper or other materials for higher hipot voltages.
This is good insurance if a winding shifts. I would also tape around each layer to hold them. Gary glues them in place.
I hope he is keeping track of the transformers he is building so he can move into making custom units later. Imagine giving him a big old core and he turns it into a nice custom mod transformer.
Very Very cool shop.

[Rick K5IAR]

Gary has a great looking shop.  That is also one big hunk of iron!
Rick/K5IAR

[w3jn]

Looks like I might be needing his services.... the power tranny on the GPT-750 has apparently crapped out 

[Mike/W8BAC]

I wish this guy was my neighbor. I would be over for lessons all the time. What a shop! Is this just a hobby Todd or dose he do this as a sideline? Looks like a go to guy for the inevitable zorch.

Mike

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

I wish this guy was my neighbor. I would be over for lessons all the time. What a shop! Is this just a hobby Todd or dose he do this as a sideline? Looks like a go to guy for the inevitable zorch.

He does this as a business, Mike. Gary is a member here and can no doubt explain better than me, but as I understand it he has a day job driving truck, maybe seasonal. His tube/BA parts/transformer rewinding business takes up the rest of his time. Well, that and the wife, who makes him paint the house and fun stuff like that.

Gary is a great resource and a great person, too. Dyed-in-the-wool-genuine Maine native, or 'Mainiacs' as we call them. I agree, he'd not only be handy to have next door, probably a lot of fun as well. Transformer shop, tubes, and BA parts. He's pretty good at sniffing out the old gear hidden in basements and attics, too. I've bought a number of items from him over the years from Halli knobs to a Vibroplex Blue Racer bug. Always very satisfied.

Looks like I might be needing his services.... the power tranny on the GPT-750 has apparently crapped out 

Aw, that doth suck! I felt the same way, John. But when I figured in the age of the iron, likelihood of a crapout later if not sooner, and difficulty in finding someone to fix it, I was almost relieved that it zorched when it did. Once you get it back, you'll have a better-than-new tranny that will likely outlast all of us. I think I have a spare lump for the T-368 if that could be subbed? If so and you want to use it while yours is getting rewound, give a holler. We can figure out the transport issues.

Gary's a one man show, and one of very few left providing this service to us. When I think about the possibility of not being able to get iron rewound in the future, I start to *twitch* and get the urge to Hypot the snot out of all my iron now.   

[Mike/W8BAC]

The plate transformer in the 20V-3 had a problem when I got it. It weighs about 150 pounds and is a pain to move. Either the insulators got bumped or Somebody had used them to try to lift. Two of the three on the secondary had been broken. I noticed the epoxy on the insulators.

As I was doing the finished assembly I thought I would pull off the end bell and have a look. Good thing I did as I found one of the conductors broken. The insulators are two piece with an all thread passing through. Jam nuts fasten the wires on both sides of the bell. A former tech had twisted the all thread until the lead snapped. Probably when the glue job was done.

I cleaned up the mess and did a better epoxy job on the broken insulators (I couldn't find replacements). I had to splice a longer piece of magnet wire with a soldered crimp butt connector. I found a nice insulator sleeve  and covered all of the pigtails before reassembly. So far, so good. I hope the fix lasts. If not I'll have to get in touch with Gary.

Mike

[WA1GFZ]

Be careful with epoxy some mixes conduct at low voltages. You should be on the look out for new insulators. Maybe you could turn down a high voltage plastic. Maybe Delrin would work??? fc

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

I had a bear of a time finding the correct antenna insulators for my 30K-5, a two-piece Millen type with overlapping inside-to-inside pieces. Turns out the power transformer in the big Wilcox uses the same thing. I broke one of those year ago backing into it with the truck when picking it up. Looked for a number of years, found some ones-twos here and there. Hit the Mother Lode at Hosstraders a coupla years back so I have some spares now. Perhaps they're the same?

If you can take a picture Mike, post is on AMFone somewhere and maybe we can scare you up some replacements. As Frank said, some of the epoxy mixes conduct quite nicely, replacement insulators would be safer and less likely to give more problems.

[KB2WIG]

           "the epoxy mixes conduct quite nicely"

Does anyone have knowledge of the conductivity of 'super glue'?  Sposed to be gud for 'lektronix parts... I've used it to glue back ceramic parts..

on another  note.... My wife had taken ceramic class in the distant past...  Has anyone tried to repo ceramic parts themselves??    klc

[The Slab Bacon]

As far as Whoa-pox (epoxy) goes I have never had any problems with the clear 5 min stuf. Some of the epoxy mixture / compounds like Marine tex, and JB weld have powdered metal fillers in them. that could be dangerous!! I use the clear stuff all of the time for electronic repairs.

Kevin,
         Making insulators and porcelain ceramic standoffs in "ceramics class" could actually be pretty worthwhile!! Beats the hell out of worthless ashtrays and animal figures. One could actually do something constructive!! Hmmm.......................

                                          The Slab Bacon

[KB2WIG]

                "worthless ashtrays and animal figures'

yes, I've learned... no mor stuff in Rockfester, so THAT job prospect is sloppy dead....  klc

[N3DRB The Derb]

my wife is getting into glass bead making pretty hot and heavy. She wants a kiln next so she can anneal the beads. I wonder if I can get her to make some radio parts?

[The Slab Bacon]

I wanted to comment on this earlier, but neva got a round tuit.

I like Gary's setup! I have never rewound a transfoma yet. (never say never) But it does bring back some not so fond memories from around 27 years ago. I did rewind a couple of magnetos! What a friggin miserable job.

A friend of mine and myself both needed a good American Bosch magneto for a Fairbanks Morse 1 1/2 hp gas engine. This particular magneto did not survive the test of time. There are no good ones to be found. Apparently the varnish and paper used absorbed enough moisture over time to become worthless.

We both needed 1 good one each. We had 4 duds to scrounge mechanical parts from, but none of them had a good coil. Well nothin from nothin leaves nothin, and necessity is the mutha of invention. And she is not always kind. We set out to make 2 good ones.
We had one hell of a time getting as much wire back on as we took off. that hair fine wire for the secondary coil was absloute misery to work with. I know before it was done I had invented at least 136 new cuss words. We did manage to pull it off and had 2 working mags.

We were not able to get quite as much voltage as the original ones, but had lotz o current. A little tighter spark plug gap produced a nice hot spark. both engines started very easily.

the living proof is still lurking around to boot! For any of you all who have been to my "Post timmonium Party" and seen the red Fairbanks Morse engine running, that is one of those magnetos!!

Nevva say nevva, but hopefully nevva again!! It was a miserable job!!

                                                   The Slab Bacon

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

A glass bead in the shape of a 4-1000, heh heh.

my wife is getting into glass bead making pretty hot and heavy. She wants a kiln next so she can anneal the beads. I wonder if I can get her to make some radio parts?

[kf6pqt]

the living proof is still lurking around to boot! For any of you all who have been to my "Post timmonium Party" and seen the red Fairbanks Morse engine running, that is one of those magnetos!!

Hit and miss engines are the coolest!  I've scrounged up a Maytag washer 2-stroke (not running just yet) but its not the same. This kinda stuff is pretty scarce on this coast.

[The Slab Bacon]

the living proof is still lurking around to boot! For any of you all who have been to my "Post timmonium Party" and seen the red Fairbanks Morse engine running, that is one of those magnetos!!

Hit and miss engines are the coolest!  I've scrounged up a Maytag washer 2-stroke (not running just yet) but its not the same. This kinda stuff is pretty scarce on this coast.

Maytagulating engines are a kinda strange bird. (I used to have 2 singles and 1 twin) they are a hit and miss 2 cycle. The govna on them closes up the points and shutz down the spark when they reach the preset speed. They also require a special long nozed sparkplug to handle massive oil buildup while coasting. I think it wuz a Champion type 34 IIRC. You could still buy them new up to just a few yearz ago. I sold mine around 20 years ago.

                                              The Slab Bacon

[kf6pqt]

Yeah, mines complete, (except the points cover) probably just either needs a new carb gasket, (cereal box!)or some help in the ignition timing department... The outer casting of the kickstarter is cracked where it mounts to the base/tank casting, but its noting a big fat fender washer wont take care of.