Another new member, Rollermatic interest

[fltcoils]

I've enjoyed reading your many fun and informative posts.

I'm joining from South Bend IN, and have memories of the family 1956 (or '55) unimatic. I currently use the '72 A606maytag bought when the uni failed.

My uncle out st rd 19 way had either a rollermatic or a 1-18. He also had a goat, they live a long time.

After reading here about the rollermatics and 1-18s I guess the guy at Radio Furniture Mart was wrong when he said the quality had gone to pot and the rollers didn't work. But that salesman's comment in '72 is why we ended up with a maytag.

I hunted on craigs list, and ebay recently but found no leads. I did learn a sad thing saturday at a local appliance store. They'd been the place in town that sold refurbished tradeins. But now they say they can't, thier service people have over 30 calls/day keeping the "new" machines running. They can't spare time to fix the tradins, so they're cleaned out every day and scrapped, whether they work or not. I did leave a note to call if a rollermatic or 1-18 comes up.

Now I'm shy about that Duet I was considering. What gives? Are the new units so much less reliable than my A606, or the 1-18's?

P.S. If anyone in the area might just have leads on a machine which will best my A606, like a 68 rollermatic, let me know!

Why Bendix? After 15 years there, learning engineering from GI bill guys who flew fighters in Korea, I really respect the Bendix name, I even have a factory blue banana sign here in the study, and respect for good engineering.

 

[fltcoils]

forgot to mention, I have an old PC and an inclination to spend $34 for a circuit board. Wonder what I could do?

Imagine doing this with a 2 mb 8088 zenith laptop?

How much could those recirc pumps, waterheaters, flowmeters, dispensers, ring sprayers, plexiglas etc and extra water valves cost?

And who says a maytag can't go 1100 rpm, I think I recall an episode of "tooltime"...

 

[qsd-dan]

You'll be hard pressed to find anything that will beat your A606 (besides an A806).

Frigidaire's are great machines, but they are kinda like old foreign sports car. Highly complicated, somewhat unreliable because of their complex design and application, a pain in the ass to work on, expensive to service, had to find parts, special tools that are near impossible to locate, and technicians who know how to service them are next to impossible to find. But when these machines work and function correctly, they pretty much blow the competition out of the water as far as performance goes.

To have the best of both worlds, use the A606 for a daily driver and the future Frigidaire for fun. In my humble opinion, with dwindling supply of parts and their availability, all Frigidaire washers should never be used as daily drivers.

 

[goatfarmer]

HEY! I'm from South Bend, and my dad worked for Radio Furniture Mart, in the late 50's, early 60's.
Which store did you go to, Bob Millers?

kennyGF

 

[fltcoils]

We bought our '67 23" magnavox COLOR TV from Radio Furniture Mart, I kept that going until 1993, sold it still running with a 25" picture tube. It did eat flybacks, I installed a new PicTube and Pw Supply Caps while we had it. Imagine my parents paid $400 ($2400 in 2007 dollars) for the thing in '67, and it needed service every year almost to adjust or maintain. I learned to adjust and maintain it myself by '72 (age 13).

I remember looking at the Rollermatic gearbox on their display there at Radio Furniture Mart when the unimatic failed. I'm sure I played with it, tho I couldn't have been over 10 at the time. Thinking about it, I'm not sure when we bought the A606. It has 4 water levels, but I remember a rollermatic display, not a 1-18 display when we went shopping after the unimatic's demise. oh well, we all felt the maytag was a comedown. My mom sure missed the 1140 spin. I missed the up/dn agitation and watching with the lid open.

Maytag redo?
What if one used a SCR controller to 1/2 speed the maytag motor, and rigged a larger pulley, thus normal speed via scr, but a potential 1000rpm on demand. Can you imagine the gearbox and counterweight whirling around at that speed? Makes tilt-a-whirl seem tame.

Kenny, it was MIller's. They've always been a great place for used equipment in the past. As they say, their service people are too busy to rebuild machines anymore. But maybe they'll see my note and call when a rollermatic or 1-18 comes along. Kenny, I should drop by your place some time, it looks like you've a wealth of info. Do you ever scrounge St Vincent's/ Goodwill and Salvation Army?

Rollermatics, 1-18s.
ARe there longevity issues besides the brake, conecting rod and tub seal" Because a clutch shop can relign the brake, a machine shop can rework bushings, I suspect a CV joint boot might (read might) work as a tub seal (or something from the bellofram catalogue). Are there other issues, inadequate bearings, magwire runs hot, etc that distinguish them? I'm used to designing so if there are obvious wear stress issues these can usually be overcome by design. as long as they don't have a lucas electrical system.

My wife is from Benton Harbor area. One meets and easily converses with the Uptons (founding family /owners of Whirlpool) at civic gatherings. also one meets many engineers retired from Whirlpool, or current ones up there in STJoe / Benton Harbor. Some of my Bendix associates now work at Whirlpool.

My inlaws rave about their Duet. Saves water, gas, clothes come out so much cleaner than their top loader GE. Say they've heard around Benton Harbor that Duet's are very reliable. But compared to my A606? They think I'm crazy to have repaired/replaced the motor.

Dumb question, are there surviving engineers in Dayton retired from Frigidaire, who remember the design and development? They might know some supplier names for these parts, people with the dies or molds.

 

[fltcoils]

Kenny,

Ask your dad if he remembers John Nash. My dad was in Lions Club, ran a standard station on so mich street next to Graffis furniture. His brother, Martin, lived on co rd 32 in elkhart cty. That's the one with the goat, and lots of heffers.

 

[saltysam]

COOL!!! Another Frigidaire fan!!!

Hey Bill, Mark here in St. Louis Mo. Good to see another Frigidaire person. Welcome!! Here are a couple of pictures of my '65 Roller-Matic, '60 Multi-matic (work in progress) and my '75 1-18. Both the 1-18 and '65 are daily drivers. Hope you are able to locate a good Roller-Matic or a 1-18. They are great machines....
Mark

 

[saltysam]

'60 Multi-Matic

another one

 

[saltysam]

one more

'75 1-18

 

[fltcoils]

If you could choose, which would be a better base unit for computer control, a 1-18 or a rollermatic?

Assuming one can redesign the pulleys to boost the speed of a 1-18, would that work, or is the overflowing rinse of the the rollermatic the way to go for really good wash/rinse?

 

[goatfarmer]

Yeah, stop by anytime. I'm usually around only on the weekends, it's a part time gig for me. I shop SVDP, and Salvation Army, haven't seen much worth picking up.

Speaking of Radio Furniture Mart, I had 2 uncles that worked there as deliverymen, up to the end. Also, my father in law, brother in law, and wife's grandfather all retired from Bendix, along with my grandfather.

If I get any early Frigidaires in, I have a waiting list for them! I haven't seen one in years, and my contacts are looking for them, too. You might try a place called Berts appliance, out on McKinley, almost to Osceola. He has the contract with Sears for sure, and has a big dumpster out back. He only sells later model stuff, he may get an early Frigidaire in, and throw it away.

Now if you needed a BD Whirlpool, or an unusual Norge.....

 

[fltcoils]

Thanks for the link about Berts, I'll have to drop by there, if I can negotiate the chuck holes on McKinley.

 

[fltcoils]

Mark's machines

Your machines look great Mark. I like the panel for the 1-18.

The '65 rollermatic looks nice. Is it really a daily driver?

 

[saltysam]

Is it really a daily driver

yes it is.......my grandparents bought it new in early '65 and it has been in use since then....I inherited it when my grandma passed away....and my wife and i use it every time we do laundry....as far as i know the only thing my grandparents had to do was replace the timer back in the early 70's. When i got it i did put new rollers, oil and water bellows on it. Oh i did have to replace the spin shaft due to my own stupidity...but other than that it is a great machine...