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Re: WATCH OUT!! Texas starter rebuilder

What are we supposed to see? I see that the shaft appears to be bent, but I suspect that it is an optical illusion caused by the angle of the spring on it. Nothing more than an unfortunate photo position.
 
Re: WATCH OUT!! Texas starter rebuilder

What you are seeing is due to a misalignment of the bolt eyes on the new installed bendix spring. Probably of no significance, but if it were me selling it, I would have looked for a better spring.
 
Re: WATCH OUT!! Texas starter rebuilder

It sure looks bent to me. It seems kind of expensive, but it is an early starter. John, did you have a problem with the rebuilder?
Rusty Nelson
 
Re: WATCH OUT!! Texas starter rebuilder

As 28ACoupe said. I do like the surface quality of that new spring. Very smooth edges rather than a bunch of coarse stress risers like other new springs I've seen. The Bendix itself, however, is a pitted, blasted, P.O.S. That gives me a clue about what may be inside.
 
Re: WATCH OUT!! Texas starter rebuilder

this dude may have come up before....

ppl showing stuff like this should show a pic of the commutator they turned, also. they are often cut too deep. also no white grease on the bendix helix.
 
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Re: WATCH OUT!! Texas starter rebuilder

That Bendix is supposed to have clips under each end of the spring.
See Bratton's #15968.
 
Re: WATCH OUT!! Texas starter rebuilder

Several people in our club have made purchases from him and been very happy with the product. His feedback indicates a lot of sales and good feedback. John Duden, did you purchase and get a bad item from him?
 
Re: WATCH OUT!! Texas starter rebuilder

The guy honestly states that the bendix is used, so that is not a clue of what's inside. That honesty impresses me.
 
Re: WATCH OUT!! Texas starter rebuilder

I'm working on one of his generators right now that he sold as rebuilt, but it has a bad armature. The windings are shorted to ground. The front bearing was also a big mess. This "rebuilt" generator should have been sold as a core for $10.
 
Here's a little more information on the missing clips:

Only the springs as shown on the ebay listing need the clips. Later Bendix springs had the last coil a reduced diameter at each end of the spring. I don't know just when the springs with the reduced diameter came about, but I'm thinking it was during the late part of 1929. I'm sure it's in the SERVICE BULLETINS. Without the clips the spring can cause the bolts to bend or work loose. A bent spring is usually caused by someone forgetting to retard the spark and causing kickback. About 20 years ago I found 6 NOS clips and felt very lucky, as the clips are missing on almost every Bendix spring that should have them. Finally Bratton's started selling them, so that was a big help when working on starters.
 
Re: WATCH OUT!! Texas starter rebuilder

What are we supposed to see? I see that the shaft appears to be bent, but I suspect that it is an optical illusion caused by the angle of the spring on it. Nothing more than an unfortunate photo position.

I held a ruler to the picture and everything on the shaft lines up. You hit it on the head with it being an optical illusion.
 
Too bad John deleted his original post, which was about the poor quality of starter and generator rebuilds from an ebay seller from Texas. John bought a powerhouse that this guy had "rebuilt". John sent me the armature to be checked. The guy took a very heavy cut to the commutator, which is a big waste of good material. Then the attemp to undercut was feeble at best. There was a little undercutting between a few bars, but even that wasn't the full length of the brush contact area of the bars. I undercut the commutator and polished the commutator for John. It did pass the growler test, so John can use it now. Without proper undercutting the brushes could have poor contact with the commutator bars, resulting in poor output or arcing and pitting the bars. Also the heavy coating of glyptal can inhibit the armature cooling a little.

BTW, when you undercut the commutator it doesn't need to be deep: .010" will be enough. If you go too deep you can weaken the bars.

See my post #10 also, and you will see why John brought this guy's work to our attention. Someone needs to take his lathe away so he doesn't cut good commutator material from every armature he gets his hands on.:mad:
 
I dunno, I just try to think the best in folks. I think that people want to do a good job, and when there is room for improvement, a gentle conversation can span generations of bad information. I learn new stuff all the time, and it frequently is counter-intuitive to what I thought I knew.

If this fellow knew he could do a better job and not destroy parts, he might just be interested in learning it. It is also just possible that whoever educates him, meets a new contact, or resource, or maybe even makes a new friend. Dunno, but stranger things have happened.

I try to live by the two sentences in my signature below, that means I have to be open minded to learn, or relearn things all the time. of course the meanest thing you can do to a man is to make him him live up to his own mantra! :rolleyes:
 
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ps. john has contacted me and seems to be interested now in making amends ,i will remove the post if he does so although im sure that the moderator may do so before hand , lets see .
 
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I was thinking like QGolden and hoping someone in the Texas club with this seller could convince him that commutators DON"T need to be turned just because you have the generator apart. I can only recall 2 or 3 that I had to turn, and then it was only enough to cut away the burned part, which was about .010" deep. All the rest of the commutators I just use a fine crocus cloth to polish the bars after I undercut the insulation about .010".
 
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