A806 Timer Repair.

[d-jones]

Several months ago I bought an assortment of used but serviceable Maytag timers off eBay. Three of them were 204499 timers for the A806 and they were the reason I bought the lot. Unfortunately the guy that shipped them simply threw them in a box with a piece of bubble wrap and called it good. Needless to say, several of them arrived somewhat broken up. The seller apologized profusely for the problem blaming an employee and provided a full refund for each of the damaged timers, which is really all one can reasonably ask for.

 

Anyways, one of the casualties was an A806 timer, and not wanting to give up on it without a fight I thought I'd open it up and see what, if anything could be done for it.

 

This photo shows the timer as it came out of the box.

 

[d-jones]

Here's a look at what goes on inside the timer. These are the contacts found in the rear half, or the half farthest away from the control panel when installed.

 

[d-jones]

This is the sole disc found inside that replaced the multiple discs of earlier timers. The concentric rings (found on both sides of the disc) with the high and low areas are responsible for opening and closing the switches that lie in their path. The cogs around the outside prevent it from being driven backwards by hand when making a setting selection.

[this post was last edited: 10/13/2013-23:17]

 

[d-jones]

And here are the switches installed in the broken front half of the timer, or the half that faces the control panel. This whole thing is incredibly simple, and as it turns out the Bakelite bodies on the timers for the lesser models are physically identical to this one, so I'm going to "borrow" the front half from one and transfer all of the 806 switches to it. Fortunately the hardware store down the street has the copper rivets used to install them so that won't be a problem. This should be interesting.

 

I'll keep you posted when work resumes, but in the mean time, I know there are some folks here that have never seen the inside of one of these, so hopefully they'll find this worthwhile.

[this post was last edited: 10/14/2013-01:14]

 

[rp2813]

I'll be very interested in seeing the rest of the process when work resumes.

 

[combo52]

Timer Rebuilding

Hi David, thanks for posting the look inside, I am sure many will find this project interesting. When we have repaired timers with loose or broken [ either copper or brass ]rivets we use a small steel nut and bolt. We have found that a nut & bolt is much easier than trying to get a rivet tight enough without destroying the Bakelite or fiber body. The steel N&B can easily carry the electrical load of an appliance timer.

 

[bajaespuma]

Thanks David!

I was always hoping someone here would do a timer breakdown like this. This is going to be a very valuable lesson.

 

[d-jones]

I had a chance to work on the timer again today so here's a quick update. To remove the switches from the Bakelite body the rivets need to be drilled out. To do this properly you'll want to use a drill bit that matches the diameter of the rivet, and you can find the correct diameter by using one of the empty rivet holes as a guide(see the yellow arrows). When you've done it correctly a little copper ring(the portion that flared outward and rolled over when the rivet was set) will separate from the rivet body. As soon as it does you can stop drilling. Now you'll want to use a small punch to drive what remains of the rivets out of the holes, but before you do, make sure the path of the rivet you're about to drive out is free of any obstacles. Some of the rivet heads are somewhat hidden from view by switches that pass above them, so if you accidentally drive one of them out before the coast is clear it'll mangle the switch.

 

Now just a quick observation. In his comment above John mentioned the risk of damage to the Bakelite when reinstalling this type of rivet, and he's right. Bakelite is a sturdy enough material for it's intended use in this case, but it's very susceptible to damage from impact or crushing forces, which is exactly what a rivet squeezer delivers. So to shield the Bakelite body from damage when the rivets are installed a metal object is placed under both the head and the tail. In most cases this metal object is the tab for the solderless connector, like those indicated by the white arrows. But where no tab is needed a washer is used as indicated by the red arrows. These will have to be installed in the same way upon reassembly.

[this post was last edited: 10/19/2013-03:54]

 

[d-jones]

This is what the copper rings will look like when the tail ends of the rivets are drilled out properly.

[this post was last edited: 10/19/2013-03:55]

 

[d-jones]

Here the switches have all been removed. Some of them, like those indicated by the white arrows, are common to many of these types of timer assemblies, so other timers become a potential source of repair parts. As seen in the photo,(red arrows) I left the rivet bodies in the ends of the switches for the moment. They're a fairly close fit, so the drilled out ends will have to be cleaned up some before they'll pass easily through the holes in the brass switches. Trying to force them will just bend up the brass.

 

Now note the inside of the Bakelite body. Holes passing through the areas indicated by the blue arrows will be shorter than those passing through the areas indicated by the yellow ones. This means that we'll need at least two different grip lengths for the new rivets. Possibly more, since we also have to consider the additional length we'll end up with when we stack various combinations of switches and tabs at either end of these holes.

 

Since rivet length is critical for proper fit, before I can buy these rivets I'll need to measure these holes with a grip gauge, which means a trip out to the airport to get one out of my toolbox, which means it'll be a few days before anything more gets done. So if you're following this, sorry to keep you waiting.

 

[vivalalavatrice]

Have a good job !!

I'm working on a timer either... rivets are a challenge but once you start you MUST get to the end of a such long work!!

BYE!
Diomede

 

[d-jones]

Thanks for the encouragement Diomede. Believe me, I'll finish the project. I'm as curious as Ralph and Ken are to see how this goes. I've ordered the rivets and the proper rivet set for them to use in the squeezer I have, so with any luck I'll get them installed without breaking the Bakelite as John warned about. As an aircraft mechanic I've installed hundreds of solid rivets, but these semi hollow copper ones will be much softer, so I'll probably practice with a few on the broken cases before trying it on the actual timer.

 

[d-jones]

I finally got the rivets and the rivet set needed to install them. It turns out that finding these semi tubular rivets in copper is rather difficult, so these are brass instead. Brass is a little harder than copper so I'm keeping my fingers crossed in the hope that they'll work out. The minimum number I could order of any one size was one hundred, and since I wanted several different sizes in order to find the best length for each hole, I'm now the proud owner of four hundred rivets.

 

[d-jones]

The last holdup is this rivet set. It's too wide to fit down between the raised Bakelite fins where it needs to go in order to roll the end of the rivets over, so I'll have to trim it down some. I'll be able to do that tomorrow at my folks house, so with any luck this project will be finished by tomorrow evening.

[this post was last edited: 10/24/2013-22:44]

 

[d-jones]

Well, in a clear example of Murphy's Law, I ran into yet another problem; this one of my own making. The rivet indicated by the yellow arrow needed to be one size longer, but I don't have a longer one to use. Meanwhile, the rivet indicated by the blue arrow needed to be one size shorter, and I don't have any shorter ones to use. As a result, both of these fittings are loose, but the blue arrow fitting is really loose. So it's back out to Pacoima on Monday to get two more packages of rivets. So much for planning ahead.

 

[d-jones]

Here's the partially completed inside view with the same two rivets identified. The other rivets are nice and tight, so so far this seems to be working out(fingers crossed). But I've gone as far as I can without the needed rivets, so unfortunately it'll be Monday before I can finish this now.

 

[rp2813]

David,

 

I'm impressed with both your work and the progress you've made, along with your commitment toward doing the job right. 

 

You're on a fast track to becoming this site's timer guru.

 

Ralph

 

[Chetlaham]

Thats a beautiful job!

I could never do that, Im so proud and thankful for rebuilding the timer rather than trying to find a new replacemnet. Good job and keep up the spectacular work!!!

ps, sorry about the shipping damage. Its happened to me more than once to parts I was really was attached to.

 

[vivalalavatrice]

You're on a fast track to becoming this site's timer

Holzer is mine!

In the case of the shorter one can't see nothing to do for getting it longer while in the case of the longer one... well, try to polish!