Bendix washer dryer

[chanceskydiver]

Good evening to you

Recently was on eBay thanks to my good friend Chris, and came across a really old washer dryer from Bendix.
Went down and chatted to the couple who purchased house. They were in process of doing it up as was very old and dated plus very run down in need of restoration. Invited me in to see house what they done, and showed where machine was. And where they put it in the garage. It was covered up on top with large black bin bags Sellotape to it round and round and round again.
Sadly they cut waste pipe sliced and damaged 1 inlet hose black rubber tap was still attached to it though so was a bit annoyed about it but kept cool about it and didn't show too much upset/anger
But will need a full restoration to take place on her.
Will need a full clean and strip to bring her back to her former glory. As the original owner in house sadly passed away, and don't think kept too well as the machine is in poor state lint filter bag was full of fluff. Doesn't sound too good when turn by hand. Can someone give me help guidance please
Pictures to follow

Mike

Pardon our interruption...

 

[chanceskydiver]

Now for picture when it was in service

 

[chanceskydiver]

Picture 2

 

[chanceskydiver]

Looking in

 

[chanceskydiver]

Still looking in lol

 

[chanceskydiver]

Checking door seal

 

[tomturbomatic]

Great find

I remember seeing pictures that looked like this machine in Which? years ago.

 

[jetcone]

Nice looking machine

I love how bendix used SS drums over there! All we got was enamel on steel

 

Qualtex has spares left so I'd grab a new boot ASAP.

 

 

 

[dimitris]

Great find!!!!

Wish you will bring it back in life....

 

[swestoyz]

Wow, that stainless tub is awesome! I'm with Jon, wish we got that state side!

 

[vacbear58]

Congratulations

I wondered who got that.

One of the best sources of information will be automaticwasher member ricky5050 who also has one of these machines which he got about 10 years ago.

Al

 

[robliverpool]

Is that widnes outside Warrington? How did I miss that. Only ten minutes drive for me. Great machine. Looks like fun

 

[chestermikeuk]

Bendix

Glad you managed to collect it Mike, thought it was going down to Chris for you all to work on? Spares still available as Jon mentioned and as the bearings are imperial they can be sourced from suppliers as well, the hoses probably would need to be changed anyway, you can still get red and black hoses from suppliers (same as pneumatic, firmens hoses etc)these would have to be fitted onto the brass connections

I would say give it a good clean, does the drum sound rough like bearings are rough or is it making a catching noise? If you laid it on its side to move something could have slipped and moved, take the back off and check everything!!

Like Al and others have said, Ricky has a great example of a fully restored washer dryer but it takes effort and a lot of patience to get them up and running again!!

Heres a link to some of his threads!!

1965 Bendix LT Washer Dryer Belt Help Update

Hi I've finally gotten around to trying to sort the problem with my washer. Thanks Mathew(Keymatic3203) as i contacted the link you gave and a branch nearby me supplied me with a belt that is a perfect replacement for only £8.00. I fitted it and tensioned it (which i thought it had been before...

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[chestermikeuk]

Timer Thread

1965 Bendix LT Washer Dryer timer help needed

Hi I have a favour to ask , the timer motor on my washer has broken, it was a bit tempremental and i thought it was due to loose connections, however the other day it stated to make scraping noises as if it was struggling to tick around, the machine took longer than normal and when it...

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[chanceskydiver]

Update

Dryer filter has been cleaned out completely as was bulging in a lot of fluff built up which would have caused it to go up in smoke, and put oil over pulley as was making a very loud noise when either distribute or spin mode. Put 2 jugs of water in machine to find out a seal gone somewhere going to investigate soon.
If anyone wishes to add me in on to Facebook please feel free to look for Servis Gem and or 38WD on YouTube

 

[ricky5050]

hello ! my discoveries

Hello Mike and Chris

I thought id share my experiences with my machine if its any help to you. It might be a bit long winded and i hope not to teach you to suck eggs but here goes!

I think it may help to understand how these machines work to see if you can identify noises etc that are not normal.

This machine has one large motor that runs continously once switched on ( apart from a pause when the heater is on, and a 1 min pause before the final spin )
This motor drives a continuosly running pump at the front, and through a gearbox the drum and fan for the drying part. All of these are running all the time and solenoid shifters (electro magnets that move levers) are the only way the machine can change into spin or pump out or allow the dryer to function. There isnt any electronics on this machine (thankfully!)

Sources of noise

The drum bearings may be worn, to see if this is the case remove the drum to gearbox belt and spin drum, it should be silent, if theres a rumble the bearing may be worn, if you try pushing the drum up and down and theres no free play even with a rumble it will be fine to play with the machine for a while, if theres lots of movement id suggest caution in case the spin shakes the drum too much damaging the outer drum.

The gearbox needs oil. remove the small white dip stick on top and fill up with gearbox, ive found the correct oil ( see Pic) its a fidly job, ive found either plastic syringes or squeezy bottles hair dressers use to apply color are ideal, ( i can get you one of those free) the gearbox can burp and oil pops out of top. The level needs to be up to the marker on the dipstick.

The drive shafts from the gearbox are held on by grub screws that have allen key heads, they can loosen, wiggle the pulley left and right as you tighten them to ensure they sit sqaure on the shaft.

The solenoid shifters may need a light oil on the linkages, there are 3 on this machine, one on the gear box to the left of motor looking from rear this is what clicks in to move the machine into spin in one step ( no distribution or ramp up spin ) the second is on the front behind the pannel revealed when you pull down the flap at the front. This is on the pump, this machine re circulates water continously (unfortunately unseen) and the soleniod allows the water to be pumped out when needed. The third one is on to back of the drum nearer the top it opens a flap allowing air to move through when in drying mode.
Solenoid shifters need to move freely or can burn out but if they've stood idle for some time can chatter, the magnets that close together need to have clean smooth surfaces, clean them with fine wet n dry sand paper and wipe oil on them they should snap shut ( remember remove plug before going near machine!!) the noise they make is similar to a pair of hair clippers that are not adjusted correectly if you know what i mean?

The last soucre of noise is the drying fan, it runs continously and can make the machine noisy, remove the belt and try turning it should spin freely and take a while to slow down.

a few pics to follow

richard

 

[ricky5050]

more pics

rear view showing pulleys etc

 

[ricky5050]

belts and gear box shifter

the fan belt can be replaced with a car one if its the same width to fit the pulley groove or easily adjusted by unscrewing the idley pully in the centre and moving it into a new hole. The main drum belt is a bit more fidly and should be adjusted first, you need to acheive about one half inch free play at longest flattest part. to adjust you will see there is a clamp that holds to motor in place slacken the nut and bolt slightly so the motor will turn , then you will see a long nut with a rounded end as you turn this it will rotate the motor and gear box around either towards or away from the drum pulley, as the pulley from the gear box is on the right if the gear box moves down away from drum the drum belt will be tensioned more and like wise if it moves up it will be slackened. once your happy with the tension re tighten the clamp to hold it in place.

 

[ricky5050]

get your top off!

It would be worth removing the top also, this is easy when you know how, you need a thin steel ruler or even better the fish slice thingy that you use to turn over eggs in a frying pan etc, dont use a screw driver as it will chip enamel. in the centre of the gap between the top and front you will see a clip push the fish slice against that dont lever up just push slightly back, this will relase the top and it should pop up. lift it only a few inches and put you hand in to squeeze the flexible pipe that goes from soap powder shute to drum, this is tucked on top of drum and should pop out, they can be fragile and need to be water and air tight so be careful. Lift the lid off and slide towards you, there will be a green earth wire to remove as well. Mine suffered corrosion around this soap powder hole and needs to be air tight (see later) when the lid is off check all springs and hangers are tight, you will see the heater box on top of drum at left handside its worth hoovering the inlet end as this is where is sucked in and the mesh grill can get a layer of fluff on reducing the efficicney of the machine. to the right handside there is the water inlet a small tube sits above a funnel ( see vid ) this acts as an air brake to prevent syphoning, the nozzle of this tube should be wiped clean of limescale etc as the scale can cause the water to spray in all angles and perhaps on electrics.

 

Replacing the lid is a bit trickier as you have to remove the plastic soap hole cover and fit from top. Ill explain later