Sun Armature Tester

[goodfellow]

I bought this tired old Sun model AT armature tester on ebay. The first pic shows how I received it. Full of dirt, grease and mouse ****. When I took it apart, all it really needed was some new wires and a power cord. It also needed a slight repaint of the armature tray area that was corroded and full of rust spots.

The first pic shows how I received it, and some closeups of the refurbished tray area.

EDIT: Big pic of the finshed product on the workbench

 

[Rickster]

Nice job! Isn't that what they called a "Growler"??

 

[krusty the clown]

Nice job! Isn't that what they called a "Growler"??

yes it's called a growler and nice job too

 

[Kona Cruisers]

cool... what is it?

 

[krusty the clown]

cool... what is it?

as stated it's an armature tester. the armature of a starter or generator is placed on the eledctromagnets and the a piece of metal is run over the armature making a growling noise. if the pitch of the noise changes the armature is shorted.

 

[elect]

that's a sweet ole growler! You going for a shop full of light blue machine goodness I guess.

 

[Elroy]

That hammer tone paint was the perfect choice. Most excellent !

 

[goodfellow]

Thanks guys! My wife thinks I'm crazy, but she puts up with it

I buy this old Sun stuff because it truely was made at a time when quality was the norm, and not the exception, and I repair it with the hope that it'll last another 50 or 60 years.

What impressed me about this thing was the massive aluminum housing casting. Sun really expected this equipment to take a beating, and over engineered the heck out of it. Except for a view wires, powercord, and needing a new GE glow bulb, the transformers and resistors checked out perfectly.