Help, AC Electric Motor laminated board material

[11b30b4]

Obviously, I am not an electrician. I am working on a vintage capacitor start motor and I need to fabricate a replacement part. The only problem is I do not know what the laminated board material used in these motors is called or where to get it. In this pic it’s the brown laminated material that is commonly used for the terminal board and end cap side of the centrifugal switch.

The material is some sort of laminated material like cardboard or something. I thought it may be Garolite or Bakelite or something similar and available in the 1940s, but I am not sure. I figure someone makes this stuff in sheets, but I do not know what to search for.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[The Cobbler]

I think it's called Mica board

 

[nadogail]

I checked. I came up with Bakelite. Google will give you both a source and a bit of a History lesson.

 

[californiaHank]

It's some sort of phenolic plastic board. Trade names for phenolics include bakelite and micarta. Phenolic plastics need some sort of filler for strength. The filler can either be mixed in with the plastic (bakelite, etc) or laminated in layers (micarta, etc). At one time, asbestos was a common filler. Everything from paper to cotton to glass has been used. Old Bakeilte used asbestos, so it is very dangerous to grind or cut. Newer stuff should be safer. Epoxy is a modern replacement for phenolics, but plenolics are still used. Phenolics used to be very common in electric equipment, in switches and terminal boards.

 

[KenC]

Probably Micarta. If so you should be able see a cloth weave pattern in it as it was usually made with resin soaked cloth.

The last I bought came from a plastics fab company.

 

[Mike Folks]

Glastic material comes in different thickness,insulating,strong,look into that.

 

[dogdog]

Don't remember for sure 100% what those materials are, bakelite sounds familiar.
But if you are trying to replace that board or remake the "Switch" part of the centrifugal switch... maybe try and find a Printed Circuit Board and use that instead... they have different thickness fiberglass board and copper in oz. Just find the size that you needed...

 

[Stuart in MN]

Look at phenolic sheets from McMaster-Carr: https://www.mcmaster.com/phenolic-sheets/ They have a variety of different types; I think electrical insulating Garolite may work, it's available in a wide variety of sizes and thicknesses, and isn't very expensive for small pieces.

 

[theoldwizard1]

If you already have the supplies, you can make your own by laying up multiple layers of fiberglass and epoxy on a flat surface cover with plastic.

 

[11b30b4]

Wow, that is a lot of replies. Thank you all for your suggestions and input. I will most likely run with the Garolite, seems to be the closest match to what is in the motor now in structure, thickness, and color.

 

[pancho400cid]

I'm kinda late to the party but have spec'd similar material for work many times. Some good info above.

As said your parts look like either NEMA Grade C canvas reinforced phenolic, NEMA Grade LE linen-reinforced phenolic, or maybe NEMA GPO-1, 2 or 3 glass-reinforced polyester.

Garolite, Bakelite, Micarta, etc. are tradenames applied to a wide array of materials including but not limited to the ones I listed. The posted McMaster link shows all the NEMA grades above if you read through the descriptions.

...

 

[11b30b4]

Pancho400cid, thank you for the update. i have not ordered anything yet but McMaster Carr was where i planned on buying from.

 

[pancho400cid]

At my work, we use the materials I listed for all kinds of stuff. They can absorb moisture, especially at the cut ends, etc., which reduces the insulation resistance. Our standard procedure is to clean it and apply two coats of clear or red air-dry insulating varnish... something like this:

https://www.sprayon.com/product/el600-clear-insulating-varnish/

Maybe not a big deal at low voltage, but we do it as a normal practice without regard to voltage.

 

[11b30b4]

Pancho, thanks for the link, I have a different brand but the same stuff that I used when I needed to replace the lead wires from a different motor. I needed to re-varnish the windings and used it on that project.