Every Day’s a Holiday with Hotpont - Maybe?

[peteski50]

Hotpoint

Oh well I guess it's all the splashing that made me think differently. Can't wait to see the finished Hotpoint.
Best Wishes
Peter

 

[mulls]

overflow

So,Uni,are you saying that this machine actually overflows for 2.5 minutes after the tub is full before agitation begins?Incredible!Perhaps others feel as I do that it would have been so wonderful to live in the time when one did not have to worry about each drop of water(or fuel)used,before absolute political correctness,when one could enjoy a steak-or a cigarette-or a drink-without worrying so about the harm caused to the body...........sorry to ramble,dont know what set me off,usually a very quiet member.
Tom

 

[Unimatic1140]

So,Uni,are you saying that this machine actually overflows for 2.5 minutes after the tub is full before agitation begins?

Yes that is exactly what I mean. And to add to that, the first 1.5 minutes of rinse fill is forced to warm water no matter whether you have the warm or cold rinse button pushed!

 

[Unimatic1140]

Tonight I took out the timer in the Hotpoint and made an adjustment. It works fine except for the very first increment of the final spin, it continued to keep the overflow rinse water filling, and after that long overflow rinse the last thing we want is increment of spin spray.

So I took out the timer and marked the wires so I would remember how to put it back together. Then I marked the side of the timer so I could tell where the dial lines up with the red pointer on the chrome control panel. With the timer dial re-installed on the timer I can see where the timer dial is located in the cycle so its easy for me to find the first increment of the final spin.

 

[Unimatic1140]

Next I determined which contact was the rinse water contact by following the wires to the rinse side of the water temperature switch. Once I knew which wire contact connector was attached to the rinse water wire, I removed the side panel closest to the contact that needed adjustment. Bending these 4 tabs allows you to remove the side panel.

 

[Unimatic1140]

Here’s the inside of the timer. The timer cams are round wood circles with notches cut out in them. As the timer “increment clicks” it turns both the dial and those cams clockwise. The cam follower ramps, that is the part that is bent downward and touch the cams, ride along the top of the cam. When a notch comes along in the cam the cam follower drops down into the notch allowing the top electrical contact to drop down and touch the bottom electrical contact and complete the circuit, in the case start the rinse fill.

The problem was that over the years the cam follower ramp had been bent slightly upward and was not coming back up complety during the first increment of the final spin. So I took a tiny screwdriver and GENTLY pressed the metal ramp of the cam follower down slightly. Problem solved.

 

[brettsomers]

Wooden?!? amazing!

 

[panthera]

wooden?

I tread here gently - except for my name, I've never seen Robert get anything wrong - but wood? I had (sadly, "had") an Underwood electric typewriter with a fibre gear set from that era. The gears looked just like these cams.
Could they be out of the same material? It is made by impregnating fibre disks with a resin (in those days a phenolic) and bonding them under great heat and pressure. Produced quiet running, dimensionally stable and relatively production tolerance compatible gear sets, cams, etc.
If they are wood...what would suit the purpose? You couldn't use oak with iron for obvious reasons...the "soft" woods are out for obvious reasons, too. Hmm...Rosewood?

 

[lesto]

Robert, how long is each increment, 1.5? Also, how do you set the wash time ring on the dial in relation to the main timer?

 

[Unimatic1140]

Kevin you probably are correct, those cams are made out of some kind of fiber/resin mix, but they look and feel like thin wood.

And Les, yes the increments are 1.5 minutes a piece. The longest I have ever seen in a vintage increment click style timer.

 

[spinout]

re: wood timer discs

I would (no pun intended) expect to see phenolic in a timer of this era.

Whatever the material, it needs to be something that could have been stamped out on a punch press in order to be mass produced. It would also have to be treated or otherwise heat/moisture resistant in order to assure dimensional stability and adequate dielectric strength.

 

[panthera]

machinable

I know the composite cams used in other machines of this period were preformed into roughly the needed shape and then machined into the exact shape needed.
Suppose the same was done with these. There are some interesting articles out there on the whole topic - lots of the early work was for military aircraft.
After the war, a lot of the "new" materials were used in traditional applications because the factories and capital investments set up in the last years of the war needed to be used. The war came to a very sudden end leaving many companies with enormous capacities and investments. This led to the introduction of many good things - and also planned obsolescence which is only bad,
Robert, a simply great project. Am very much hoping for some videos.
KevEn

 

[mayken4now]

Robert:

That machine is a work of art! How wonderful. WOW

Steve

 

[appnut]

Aside from soap curd, I can't imagine why there'd be 1.5 minutes of overflowing before the rinse agitation begins. I kinda like the idea of splitting the rinse agitation into two periods with that 1.5 minute of stopped agitation filling.

 

[westytoploader]

WOW, a 1.5-minute escapement that early? Amazing...

And I thought all "snappers" were 30 or 45 seconds LOL.

 

[stricklybojack]

.
Love these old threads!
Found this ad, this seems like a good place to post it.
Let's have an update on the Hotpoint please..how did it turn out?[this post was last edited: 10/1/2015-12:00]

 

[ovrphil]

When a designed washer and dryer was like viewing the new cars, in the 50's and 60's - design and class ..altered states today.