Apex Wash-a-Matic re-Restoration and Full Cycle Video

[Unimatic1140]

So after 13 years of using my wonderful Apex it started to show some signs of wear so it was time to take the machine apart and give it a going over.

I noticed the timing of the shifting back to wash pulsate after spin was getting shorted leading to the basket starting to bounce too soon. There was also a few leaks around the top seal which needed to be dealt with and the motor was getting more more noisy.

The first thing to do was take the top off and pull out the fiberglass wash basket. When I found my first Apex in 1996 the wash basket needed to come out to deal with a rusted outer cabinet and I tried everything to get it out but it is pressed onto the shaft. I destroyed the upper bearings by pounding on the shaft to get it out but even then it wouldn't budge. 13 years later when I found this Apex the basket was loose (it's not supposed to be loose) so the basket came out easily. Now in 2022 with the tub properly installed I had to figure out a way to pull the basket out. The service manual which I didn't have in 1996 or 2009 shows a special Apex puller used to remove the basket (pict 2). Searching Amazon I found a perfect solution its called a Harmonic Balancer Puller (https://amzn.to/38AkEUJ) and thankfully it worked like a charm!

With the basket pulled (picts 5-8) you can see that is two color fiberglass, green on the inside and red on the outside. You can also see the balancing pockets that water is thrown into and held during spin like a big huge agitator-mounted softener dispenser. The way the shape of the basket is designed more water from less balanced side flows to the opposite side of the tub to help balance the tub during spin.

 

[Unimatic1140]

Next on the list was to fix the spin back to wash timing issue. So I pulled the mechanism out and into the workshop we go. The service manual states you can adjust this by adding washers between the wash and spin brake plates, with a bit of experimenting I got this to work perfectly now. The brake plates are a bit warped after 70 years of spring pressure so each of the six post spacers each needed a different amount of spacers to get the timing and clearances correct.

Next I wanted to deal with the main Wash Shaft Bearing. I didn't do anything to the main bearing assembly 13 years ago but it was time. The service manual states that "Sufficient oil is impregnated into the wick to last for the life of the washer." Uh huh well I figured that life was supposed to end 50 years ago so I better investigate that oil situation on that wick. Sure enough it was dry as a bone. The bearing itself and wash shaft seem perfectly fine, the seal was still good too thankfully as all those parts would be hard to match. The bearing even has channels and divots to hold oil! I carefully removed the bearing housing I found it was mounted on a flexible disk to make it a "self-aligning" bearing. I also realized immediately that this flexible disk was made out of our favorite vintage material Asbestos! I immediately got out my N95 mask and gloves and took it outside to work with. After carefully cleaning the Asbestos disk I sprayed it with a coat of white Flex-Seal which is a rubber coating paint and will seal in a lot of that nasty Asbestos.

The bearing is nothing like I've ever seen before. It has a huge oil wick with a finger that sticks through a hole in bearing to touch the spinning wash shaft and continuously provides oil to the bearing and shaft. I saturated the entire wick very well with Turbine Oil, fixed the few bolts that had their heads sheered off when I tried to remove them. I painted the mounting disk's hold-down ring with POR-15 paint and put the assembly back together.[this post was last edited: 5/31/2022-14:18]

 

[Unimatic1140]

Next up was to deal with the rusted upper cabinet angled lip where the foam seal mates with the machine top. First I sanded it well then painted it with gray POR-15 paint. Then I found a perfect rubber seal on Amazon that fits the angle top perfectly (https://amzn.to/3M44Qr7). Unlike most of my other vintage machines I've always had trouble sealing the Apex's top. So I found that high quality rope cork placed at the seam really seals up and I have no leaks now finally!

I also sanded and painted the very rusted Safety Arm. This arm hits the safety valve plunger which quickly lets all the water out of the spin clutch if the machine goes unbalanced at the start of spin. The valve throws the basket back into wash pulsation for a moment and then tries to spin again over and over until the momentary agitation fixes the balance or the user redistributes the load.

 

[Unimatic1140]

Next onto the motor which has seen better days. It was getting noisy and had play in the shaft. It also look like it was leaked on at some point in the machine's life. When I don't know because it didn't leak from underneath since I last restored it in 2009. So I decided to replace the motor with a brand new motor that has the exact same specifications as the old motor. Absolutely no pimping-up an Apex in any way shape or form, it's too rare of a machine. I also replaced the pulley with the exact same size pulley that was on the original motor. The machine runs at the exact same speed as before but is so very quiet!

 

[Unimatic1140]

Finally the water valve was also causing some issues. It's a 3-solenoid valve, one for hot water, one for cold and one is the spin pilot which is suppose to let between 0.2 to 0.3 gallons of water a minute into the spin clutch when spin is called for.

Luckily sometime in the late 90s Larry at Modern Parts in Cleveland had a just few Apex parts which I purchased in case I ever found another machine. One of the parts he had was a brand new Apex water valve! I'm sure this valve was meant for the 1956-1957 or the coin-op machines as the mounting was slightly different but it has the exact same flow specs as the '53 models. The new valve works much better, is quieter and is more gentle on the spin clutch rubber disk that expands to raise the clutch brake plates. The old valve flo-washers were hard and letting in too much water too fast to both the machine and the clutch.

Finally the last picture shows the big nut that holds the basket down. 13 years ago I wanted to replace this bolt so I took it to a specialty fastener company. They measured it and told me it was a custom thread and they couldn't get it. So I gave up and left it as is. The bolt is fine but is getting rusty and chewed up from the wrench to get it on and off. I figured out that the bolt is not a custom thread but rather a 3/4-20 size bolt! The only bolt of this size and thread I found was made out of aluminum, so I'm not sure it is strong enough for this application (probably will be fine). I also found some stainless steel jam nuts of this size but they are $40 a piece so for now I'll leave well enough alone.

 

[Unimatic1140]

And now before anyone asks lol a full cycle video done in high def...

 

[luxflairguy]

AWESOME! This is an example of the pristine work you do! Thanks for sharing the results! Greg

 

[rickr]

Great restoration job Robert, as always! Thanks for the detailed photos and explanation, of the operation of this very rare machine. I had to replace the motor on my 1958 Norge as well. Sometimes a modern replacement is just the right way to go. This Apex machine should run for many more decades now.

 

[spiralator60]

Congratulations on a job well done, Robert!

 

[bradfordwhite]

The details and extent to get it right is so impressive Robert. 

 

[peteski50]

Apex!

Robert you did such a great restoration. I loved watching the video - I had forgot it did a 2nd deep rinse. Its ashame they stopped making these.
Best Wishes
Peter

 

[repairguy]

Congrats on a fine second restoration of the Apex!

 

[maytagbear]

Oh, Robert!

What a wonderful restoration

I am in love with the care you took.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[egress]

I love that wash action! how does it cope with tough stains I wonder?

 

[gansky1]

 

 

I was already a quiet machine, it must be nearly silent now.  

 

What an excellent job, congrats on another great washer renewed.

 

[hippiedoll]

WOWZERS...

That is too cool!
GREAT restoration you did on that unique washer. Love the attention to detail and you made it look as good as new!
That washing action sure has my head spinning.


Love it!

Doing the HAPPY DANCE for you on this side of the computer...

 

[christfr]

awesome

this still has to be one of the most fun machines to watch. totally love it....

 

[stricklybojack]

.
Why are these machines so rare?
Did parts become scarce quickly after the company went under…or even before?
Is there something in the design that made them to difficult to fix?
Or were there just very few to begin with?

Hard tellin’ not knowin’…

 

[pulltostart]

Thanks Robert!

Thank you for sharing the work and the product.  A very interesting machine to say the least - I love the wash basket!

 

lawrence

 

[pulsator-power]

Hello Gorgeous!

What motion during washing is done? Is it shaking?

 

[Unimatic1140]

Thanks everyone for your kind comments!

how does it cope with tough stains I wonder?
In 1953 probably not very well on tough stains, what makes a big difference well into the 21st century is the detergents we have now are made for low water use machines and they perform much better. The Apex certainly falls under the category of low water use machines and you can even cut the wash fill by half (down to 3.5 gallons) for a more effective use of modern detergents. Everything comes out clean now but I bet that wasn't the case in 1953 when low sudsing detergents didn't perform well compared to the high sudsers. Apex recommended All detergent (Dash wasn't on the market as of yet in '53) as it's bouncing action worked better with a low suds detergent.

Why are these machines so rare?
Apex simply didn't have the market penetration of the big guys in the appliance industry such as GM Frigidaire, Maytag, GE and Whirlpool/Kenmore. The mechanics of the machine is much more simple as it has no transmission.

What motion during washing is done? Is it shaking?
It is nutation like when you spin a coin on its side and it starts to slow down it wobbles.

 

[golittlesport]

beautiful work, Robert!

Interesting, ingenious design. Thanks for sharing your amazing, painstaking, detailed restoration work.

This design really successfully mimics front-loading wash action in a top-load format (the low water use and gentle scrubbing action.) And it doesn't knot the fabrics into ropes as modern impeller top loaders tend to do. As you mentioned, with today's detergents it must give excellent results. It's quiet as a mouse with the sealed lid closed. Really ahead of its time.

 

[foraloysius]

I've always found that one of the greatest machines in your collection Robert, so it's great that you restored it. I was watching the video on my TV, the sounds are so soothing I fell asleep while playing it. lol. So for the second time watching it, I made sure I stayed awake. Fascinating how it works and so ingenious how it works, including pumping the water back to get it balanced for the spin. What modern machine would do that?

Thanks for sharing the story, the pictures and the video.

 

[rapidry1000]

Wonderful restoration. Enjoyed watching the entire cycle of the washer. Ranks up there for unique wash action including my favorites the Frigidaire pulsator and Philco AutoMagic. I've never seen or heard of Apex in the San Francisco area.

 

[joelippard]

Thanks for sharing this with us.  What a great restoration, and a real treat to see!

 

[washerlover]

As always, in awe! Thanks for sharing pics and best of all the video!

Cheers,

Todd

 

[gelaundry4ever]

wash action

That wash action was very powerful.

 

[combo52]

Another incredible restoration of a very rare machine

Incredible Robert you just keep turning them out I’m glad you still find the energy to do this.

This was certainly one of the very interesting machines of
Of early automatic washers that unfortunately didn’t make it I also love the Kelvinator design and it really didn’t sell in great numbers either.

It would be interesting to see if they could’ve made this Apex in a bigger machine that could be a modern contender today, I’m sure they would’ve had to made the tub out of something other than fiberglass cause that wouldn’t work today but they have great plastics today that would have worked.

What’s going to be your next restoration?

John

 

[eurekastar]

This is an wonderful example of why I find vintage washing machines so fascinating!  Thank you!

 

[qsd-dan]

Looks like the appliance gods came through with some easy fixes, along with needing parts easily obtained and already on hand. I purchased 160/900/902/906 parts before I had any of machines just in case they happened to fall in my lap. Maytag gods work in mysterious ways

Time to purchase a steering wheel for a 1959 Cadillac....