check out this washing machine for the shop

[fwillison]

I bought a vintage Maytag washing machine today for my shop. I'm always hand washing towels and stuff, this will be easier, better, and way cool.
Note the roller wringer.
No plumbing need either, just fill it up with a hose, and gravity drain it.
$145 and works like the day they made it.

 

[A_Pmech]

Hell yes!

And it's porcelainized too, not epoxied!

A few off-the-shelf parts and you can keep that thing running until you die. If I had the room I'd already have one for shop rags.

 

[D.J.]

Gasoline or electric powered?

 

[G_P]

Wow! That is in beautiful condition.
I found a gas one similar to that at a yardsale but it was rusted to hell and the engine was gone.

Sent via carrier pigeon.

 

[fwillison]

Yeah, this one is electric.
Funny, they don't have a power switch, just plug it in and it goes.

 

[Stuart in MN]

When I was a kid, one of my chores was to fill the washtubs for my mother on clothes washing day. To use it properly, you need two washtubs full of rinse water on a stand next to the washer: run the towels through the wringer from the washer into the first tub, then from the first tub into the second tub, and finally from the second tub into a basket. You then take the basket outside, and hang the towels on a clothesline with clothes pins.

 

[bwane]

\ To use it properly, you need two washtubs full of rinse water on a stand next to the washer:

My grandmother had one of these and it quit working in 1963. I thought,"Heres your chance to get a machine that you throw in soap and turn it on and come back later when its done". She was heating water on the stove and hauling buckets of hot water 200 feet to the blacksmith shop! where the washer was, then attending the machine thru all the processes. After it agitates, you run everything thru the wringer to keep all the hot water and soap in the machine, then rinse well in a tub of cold water, the wring again and set aside to hang to dry.

Instead of getting an automatic washer, she bought another just like the old one!
She only used one rinse tub.

 

[NUTTSGT]

We had one of those in a factory I worked at once. Luckily, it died shortly after I started and was replaced with a commercial extractor.

 

[ovilla]

No lie, my uncle Ticho use to use one of those as a grill. He'd fill it with charcoal or wood and had a metal grate on it. Then my aunt had a huge "comal" (aka skillet) she'd place on top of it to make HUGE flour tortillas. She'd rub a few tortillas with stick butter and roll them up and serve them to us like a burrito. They were always hot and so damn good!


Anyway, just thought you might want to hear about another use for that machine that I'm sure even the engineers at Maytag hadn't thought of. As my uncle use to say MexiCAN ingenuity at its best! I'm sure it was mostly because he was such a cheap ******* too. I never knew anybody else that put 20 bags of cement in the back of a 59 Caddy either.

 

[dodgepolara500]

I have a Maytag Washer and Dryer from 1992 working like the day we bought it with no repairs. I can't say the same for my Kitchenaid Fridge, Microwave, Oven and Dishwasher ALL of which have needed repair and parts replacement. They don't make em like they used to is overused but true..

 

[dodgepolara500]

Nice score BTW!

 

[trainer]

Best part about one of those is that if your washing something really dirty, you can let it go for as long as it takes.

 

[CNGsaves]

That's a KEEPER !!

Don't trash it too bad with super greasy rags, as it does have antique value, especially due to it's excellent condition.

Until my grandma left the farmhouse, she used that same washer and hung the laundry out on line once a week. Just like clockwork, every Wednesday !!

 

[adpprop]

You know I am getting really tired of you guys getting ALL the good stuff and then showing it off. Just kidding !!!
That is a really great score and I am sooo envious. Of you and the rest of the guys who make these scores.

 

[Bears Fan]

Now all that's left to do on it is a custom paint job some flames??

 

[kbs2244]

You are lucky you got it before the horse guys.
They are very popular in stables for those thick horse blankets.

 

[tractordude]

Gasoline or electric powered?

I have been in a few old houses were they ran the exhaust pipe up the wall in the basement to the outside.

 

[nine4gmc]

freakin sweet!!

 

[MScott]

Just be careful with those wringers. I can remember a neighbour whose arm was drawn into the wringers. Did quite a number on her hand and arm.

 

[Exceller8]

That is pretty cool!

 

[go4donuts]

This thread brought back one of my earliest memories. My mom had a washer similar to this. When I was about three or four years old (circa 1963-4), I was hanging out with her while she was doing laundry (probably getting in her way). She was filling the tub with hot water, when the hose popped out of the tub and sprayed me in the chest with scalding water. I remember that hose popping out, a lot of screaming, and later my mom treating the burns with (I think) baby power and bandages wrapped around my chest.

 

[go4donuts]

And another washing machine related memory. In the junkyard on the farm there was an engine and (I think) a transmission from an old gas-powered washing machine. I got my first mechanical experience on that transmission. It had a cover with several 1/2 inch bolts. I would ask my dad for a wrench and I would sit in the junk pile and carefully turn out those bolts, remove the cover, marvel at the gears inside, then put the cover back on and turn the bolts back in. Rinse/repeat.

I remember the engine had a foot-operated starter pedal. When I was a bit older, my younger brother and I bolted the engine to a piece of plywood and would tinker with the engine and try to get it started.

My dad, who is quite mechanical, made a kiddie car for my older brother powered by one of those engines. The car was mostly made of wood and had a transmission system made of belts with wooden pulleys that my dad turned somehow - he didn't have a lathe. The car even had a reverse gear. Family lore has it that my brother managed to run over himself with that car.

 

[bgarrett]

As mentioned before, the only thing those machines do is agitate. You have to provide all the labor...and the time. I think I will stick with a free or cheap automatic washer. Throw in the soap and rags , turn it on, come back later. Time consumed 10 seconds. Labor expended, none. No danger of the wringer squashing your fingers

 

[MN4x4]

My grandmother had one of those, and I remember her boiling water and hauling it over. 'Wash DAY' was a good description, as it took her all day to wash clothes. She also had the double tub beside the machine for rinsing.

When they 'retired' and moved into town, the house they moved into had an automatic washer already there but she refused to use it. She continued to wash clothes by hand until she passed away.

I still have one of the foot-pedal motors as an 'Objet d'art' in my shop.

 

[El Barto]

This was the only kind of washer that mom would use until the late 1980's. Even then, she had one as a back up. All I remember is that those ringers were awful "grabby" if you weren't careful.

 

[Lippyp]

My mum had a more modern version of that known here as a twin tub. It had the washer part and attached was a seperate spinner, it even pumped itself out through a hose. You stuck it in the washer side, let it do it's thing, the water then drained and you refilled it with clean for a rinse and then and then haul it over into the spinner. Was fantastic for really filthy stuff and I have half a mind to find one for shop rags.

 

[Pete D.]

My aunt told me to throw out her old washer.