Homart/Sears Cooler from 50's

[Zeeman]

I got this fan at an estate sale for 20 bucks. I don't know why I bought it, but it looked cool, and will go well with my other Craftsman stuff. I started the restore, and there will be more pictures to come.

Let me know if this thread should be in a different location.

It has a Craftsman 1/4 hp motor with two speeds. I believe it only ***** air out, and is not reversible. The wires were so bare, I just plugged it in for a few seconds to see if it ran.

I wanted to sandblast it since it was/is pretty rusty, but I opted for the stupid method-sanding and wire brushing.

I got most of the rust off, and sanded all the other surfaces as best I could. A lot was taken down to bare metal. Then it got a coat of that black Rustoleum Rust Reformer in a rattle can. I have the fan, fan mounting bracket, and motor bracket painted Rustoleum hammered gray. The rest will probably be hammered silver with red accents in some places.

 

[PelicanPines]

I love restorations like this. Now if only we could do that to our own bodies.

 

[Zeeman]

Well, my body needs some restoration right now. Spray painting can be very tiring. Keeping up with time between coats, holding heavy parts to get just the right angle, finding a safe place for them to dry, etc. I'm beat! Seriously.

 

[XJPat]

Yep I would be twenty bucks lighter too. Looks great so far.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[Zeeman]

I decided to go with a little three or four tone paint job.

 

[Erampu]

Lookin' good!!

 

[Cypherian]

That does look very sharp !

Cypher

 

[Zeeman]

 

[Zeeman]

Thanks guys. I'm workin' on it. I have to tackle the motor while I wait for paint to dry. The black parts will be a light gray or silver hammered color. The fan above is dark gray hammered.

 

[Zeeman]

 

[Zeeman]

I have most of the fan painted, and will post pictures of the case later. Right now, I'm working on the motor. I have it taken apart, and have some questions about how to clean/if I should clean. Also, where should I lubricate the insides of the motor.

I got both cases separated, and the side without the wires cleaned with brake cleaner/parts cleaner. That side is not a problem. The 'wired side has some sort of switch with two wires that are soldered to that 'wiring plate'. Sorry that I don't know the correct terms for the parts.
This is the side that has the wires soldered to the plate. It also had some other wires that were attached with nuts and bolts.

Should I just cut those two wires and re solder them later? How should I clean the switch? Should I file the contact smooth?

 

[Zeeman]

One of these little gizmos is missing, or maybe it was never there. Is this some kind of balancing thing, or do I need to worry that one is missing? Thanks.

 

[Cruzan80]

If you need a pic of the decal on the motor, I have a sears appliance motor on a paint sprayer I have. May be a bit early for yours (mine has a long C underline logo).

 

[Zeeman]

Cruzan,
I'd like to see the plate on the motor you have. Mine is just about all off from the thick paint I had to try to get off. Thanks.

 

[Cruzan80]

Sure, best guess is mine is during wartime production. All of the ones I have seen all have Sear's appliance motors, and nothing in the catalogs. Guessing wartime due to a long C on the plate, and the lack of a "Craftsman" motor attached to a direct-drive pump.

 

[Zeeman]

Thanks. Please post it up when you get a chance. I want to get a new plate made for mine. It's hard to even find similar pictures.

 

[Muzzy]

Member nine4gmc does a lot of Craftsman restorations. As far as the motor goes, it may be worth looking at some of his threads, or even messaging him for advice. He has an ongoing thread in the general tool discussion section of the forum.

As others have said, looking good and I can't wait to see the final results!

 

[Cruzan80]

Here are a few quick cell phone snaps. I can pull out my nice camera later and get higher res photos, but wanted to give you something to see before I forgot. I tried to get enough angles so you could make out all the engraved numbers.

 

[Zeeman]

Member nine4gmc does a lot of Craftsman restorations. As far as the motor goes, it may be worth looking at some of his threads, or even messaging him for advice. He has an ongoing thread in the general tool discussion section of the forum.

As others have said, looking good and I can't wait to see the final results!

Thanks. I have seen some of gmc's work, and I believe he has a thread on motor refurbishing. I'll have to PM him. Thanks again.

 

[Zeeman]

Here are a few quick cell phone snaps. I can pull out my nice camera later and get higher res photos, but wanted to give you something to see before I forgot. I tried to get enough angles so you could make out all the engraved numbers.

Hey, I really appreciate you posting those pictures. I'll compare them to mine, and see if I need more. Thanks.

 

[nine4gmc]

Member nine4gmc does a lot of Craftsman restorations. As far as the motor goes, it may be worth looking at some of his threads, or even messaging him for advice. He has an ongoing thread in the general tool discussion section of the forum.

As others have said, looking good and I can't wait to see the final results!

Thanks for the shout out!

Thanks. I have seen some of gmc's work, and I believe he has a thread on motor refurbishing. I'll have to PM him. Thanks again.

Zeeman, unfortunately I can not be much if any help on that motor, most of the ones I deal with are bearing style power tool motors, that one is a bushing style oil cap motor. I will say that past experience brake cleaner has damaged internal parts of the motor, or at least I blame it on that. Your best option for ALL electric motor cleaning is CRC Electric Motor Cleaner and 3 in 1 Electric Motor Oil for the oil caps. Also, make sure those are vertical with the motor installed. I see some tools that someone installed an oil cap motor and the caps are horizontal or even upside down, they don't last as long that way.

Cool fan, pun intended, can't wait to see it completed! If no one comes along this thread that can help with the motor, make a thread specifically for it and I'm sure someone here will be able to help. I gained most of my knowledge and experience working on ac electric motors here from this group of great guys.

 

[Zeeman]

Thanks nine4gmc. I appreciate the reply. I think it's a Cool fan too. It moved a lot of air for the few seconds I had it running. I'll post it in a separate thread.