Abby Normal & the 1-18/A606

[fltcoils]

Frankenwasher....

As you recall, when Eyegore went to fetch the brain for the doctor, he accidently dropped the intended brain ruining it and fetched another that was handy...
"Who's brain was this?"
"Someone named Abby Normal"

I'm not saying I'm going to do this, but it is just a thought....

Can an old washer be revived with a new brain? Or a new heart? My co-worker has a just dead, bent tub, Calypso. The spider gave out and the main bearing died/water leaked etc. It's a gonner, but there are good parts left over. That calypso's bi-directional multi speed motor and VFD controller is functional. It allows the Calypso tub to spin from 300 to 800 rpm.

Now imagine that motor/VFD installed in a 1-18 or a a606, and controlled by the vintage timer. hmmmm?

Or even more so, imagine the cycle controller adapted to a vintage interface along with the modular recirculation pump, all from the Calypso, installed in a vintage machine. A nice recirculation pump for overflow rinsing....(using something like a pool skimmer box off the outer tub...

Any thoughts?

These Calypso's are out there being crushed, mostly because of ujoint and bearing woes. But that leaves a nice modular pump assy, cycle computer, main drive motor and motor controller.

Just late night thoughts...

 

[alr2903]

I am considering a dumpster dive modern F/L to use on the patio to wash rugs and heavy comforters, i only need 1 way tumble no spin and no electronics, fill with the hose (i like to play in the water anyway). I would like to get rid of the pump and simply raise or lower a drain hose. I plan to drip dry rugs and quilts on the line. Any input on how to rig a motor to tumble the drum, and not get electrocuted? alr2903

 

[lotsosudz]

Hey ALR903, you like to play in water huh? Water sports can be fun! lol Sounds like your kinky like me! Grin

 

[fltcoils]

You can rig most any motor, just need the right fan belt to hook it up, and a idler pulley.

assuming you ground the case, it's usually just a matter of neutral to neutral and hot to one of the speed wires....

not really complicated.

But don't front loaders need a reversing motor to allow for a spin vs tumble. And isn't there a transmissing to change that so you tumble at 60 rpm and spin at 600?

 

[toggleswitch2]

Actually and more practically, I'd like an old timer on a newer DW to get it to actually use water and clean well!

Not all frontloaders have or need a tranny..the motor simply spins fast and slow.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

You can try the motor from the Calypso, however the computer board and the motor control board communicate by a serial interface, so the connection between the two is digital. In order to just control the motor you will have to figure out with the clock rate between the boards are, and then you will have to figure out exactly what the computer is sending to the motor control board. That motor control board operates both the pump(which is reversible) and the significantly complicated drive motor. The drive motor itself runs on Modified Sine Wave, and I believe it is either 2 phase or 3 phase. I've kinda started to dissect the control board for use with a project, and so far I have located the controller chip on the motor control board, and I have looked up its specifications. The controller chip itself has many features and is some-what complicated. So, in order to figure out the communication part you may have to monitor the serial TX and RX leads while the machine runs for a complete cycle to get the commands, syntax, ect. First in order to get any thing, you must find out the clock cycle frequency between the computer board and the motor control board. Just the motor control board should keep you busy for a while. Based on what I've done so far Whirlpool is using proprietary commands.

 

[alr2903]

Thanks guys i was thinking an electric motor like on a home depot concrete mixer. I only want to tumble the drum one way. we will see what i come up with, tommorrow is trash day.

 

[fltcoils]

I was thinking I could tap in with a 555 timer where the digital stage transitions to the output transitor drivers. Thus get a VFD that could be toggled with "manual" switches.

Alternately, fool the entire controller into thinking it was still a calypso, and let it run - but with vintage hardware.

Given an adaper, there's no reason I can of think why it wouldn't work in a 1-18 or in a A606, etc. The base components are really the same, agitate/spin via motor, recirc pump during wash, dump pump at end of wash.

 

[yogitunes]

Couldn't you use a motor from a WP/KM belt drive?

the motor from these wether you use the single or 2 speed is as simple as two wires....one neutral and one hot....a simple washer cord could be used to hook up and plug in to use.....

I used to have a washer I used for throw rugs, dog blankets, and cleaning rags....used as a so called wringer where I could set the machine to wash for as long as I wanted, or spin when needed and amount of time....I installed a simple switch inline for the timer motor...while turned off, could wash for hours, timer would not advance, and a simple flip of that switch would let the machine operate as normal, fill was not affected and still metered by the pressure switch...I need to do this again to a machine, as I need a machine to soak for long periods....