It never ends... now it's the '59 Frigidaire dryer

[sfh074]

Have we ....

Taken out the switch yet to take a peek at it?

I once used 51% silver brazing rod to renew the silver contacts of a start switch. Simply take the brass conductors out of the board, braze new silver on the contacts and reinstall. Same thing on the lever portion of the switch as well. 4 contacts in all to renew. To take the lever out you have to remove the bearing cover, which isn't difficult.

But I am assuming the start switch is similar to this '60 washer motor pictured.

 

[lowefficiency]

I too am wondering - Why not open up the switch and see what the problem is?

 

[turquoisedude]

The switch appeared to be 1-piece and even if it was like on the '60 motor Bud included a photo of, with my shaky hands, opening it up would not be a good move. I don't have the 'fine tuning' to be able to braze a new contact properly. It would end badly... I feel much more comfortable using the relay.

 

[sfh074]

Hey Paul ....

I bet that machinist guy you just met can fix that switch if renewing the contacts is all that is required. I'd rather see you try and fix the switch .... then have the output of the switch toggle the new relay. A couple of hundred miliamps for the relay coil vs 30+ amps to power the heating element. The switch wouldn't ever burn out again. And if the motor ever fails to run, no power to heater .... vs letting the safety pop due to overtemping, and no changes to the door switch circuit either.

The silver brazing rod is quite common and is in every machinists arsenal of tools. Used to braze most metals. Just tell him it needs to be a silver content greater than 45%. Most are at least 50%.

 

[sel8207]

amazing hack

This is what I visit this site for! Amazing machinist hack for restoring a bearing. I wonder if thats taught in books or is it something thats just passed on from the older generation. I have a 59 filtrator dryer also and will probably be doing that same thing to it. BTW does it really matter what type of oil is used in that process? Thanks much. Les.

 

[sfh074]

Sintered bronze ....

How is oil impregnated bronze made?
Oilite is formed using powder metallurgy so that tiny pores are present in the metal. The pores are then vacuum impregnated with an oil to improve the material's bearing ability. The material holds approximately 20% oil by volume. The most common lubricant is SAE 30 oil.

 

[turquoisedude]

And after all hope was nearly abandoned....

The past few weeks have been far more hectic than usual for some reason and had prevented me from doing any serious work on the '59 Frigidaire dryer after I got that bearing re-oiled.

I had been dithering and debating what to do about the switch on the motor that showed evidence of high heat from a bad connection. I finally 'got off the pot' and bought a relay and installed it. I bought 2, as I may use this approach on the '57 GE dryer (if not, there's a very sad '51 Kenmore dryer that will need it!).

 

[turquoisedude]

I had also managed to lose the Woodruff key that was used to hold the drum drive pulley in place. You would not believe what a pain is was to find a replacement one up here! No one, hardware stores or auto parts stores seemed to have them. One bearing shop in Joliette, QC (former hometown of our own PhilR) said they had them, but wanted me to bring the drum shaft in... Nope.

 

[turquoisedude]

However.... I made one last try at an auto parts store in Newport, VT when I was over in the US picking up some recent eBay purchases at the post office. I found an assortment pack of Woodruff keys at Advance Auto Parts for a mere $4.27. I found one that fit and well, lookee there - everything went back together again!!

I'm not sure if Canyon was impressed or just glad that I had finished messing with the dryer and would now have time to feed him....

 

[turquoisedude]

Of course, I had to try powering up the motor to see how the drum would turn. I'd say very nicely!!

 

[turquoisedude]

And the last thing I got to do on Sunday was reassemble the dryer - top put back on and loose wires all reconnected.

Here's a short cycle start test; the timer still runs, drum still turned, but no heat. But that was normal - I only had the dryer hooked up to the 120v supply. Maybe, maybe, maybe this coming weekend I'll have an extra 240v outlet to play with... I wanna see if I figured how to wire that relay properly... LOL

 

[philr]

Nice to see it work again! Adding relays to my dryers is something I should consider at some point! I've been a bit neglecting, I even run my 1-18 dryer when I'm away sometimes! I get a thrilling sensation when I take risks like that!! It's cheaper than jumping off a plane with a parachute!

 

[turquoisedude]

Before I forget again... here's some photographic evidence of the dryer heater assembly all aglow when testing the new relay setup.  Seems even I could figure out how to install it. There is hope for me yet.... LOL 

 

The dryer did get tested on both regular heated dry and automatic dry cycles. Thermostats still cycled the heater on and off and the door switch cut power to the heater when the door was opened.

 

Time to reunite the only other set of turquoise laundry appliances!

 

Methinks the 57 GE is going to be getting a similar re-wiring come the weekend.

 

[turquoisedude]

It's been a while....

It seems I am spending less time down in Ogden so far this summer and when I do, it's messing around with annoying little problems like, oh I don't know, slipped blowers from GE dryers. There has been some fun, too, like moving a couple of very cool vintage washers for foster care in Ogden while their owner relocates.

I was really keen to get my newly-repaired 1959 Frigidaire Imperial dryer back down to the Ogden Laundry room and back in operation. Fate conspired against me, not only with the flippin' GE blower fan, but I realized that I had sacrificed the 240-volt breaker that used to feed the dryer outlet near the Frigidaire dryer's slot to feed a heat pump. It has been worth having air-conditioning in Ogden, but I still needed to power that Frigidaire dryer somehow. Last weekend's rewiring attempt ended in a pow and blown breaker. This weekend, I undid that 'fix' of mine and did it the right way. I had power to the 59 Imperial again.

I tested it 3 times before I shot this video. That dryer was never this quiet for as long as I owned it! For once, Hubby's snarky "Are you sure it's on" quip was well-founded!!

 

[turquoisedude]

And then....

First real load of clothes. A modest load of table linens. Automatic dry cycle. 20 minutes into the dry cycle and.....



I was most uncharitable in my theories as to the lineage of this dryer....

 

[turquoisedude]

My conclusion?

I can only guess that like with the GE, the blower wheel on the Frigidaire has slipped. I can also only further guess that the first prolonged contact with heated (and non-burning) air caused the fan to expand and slip. I'm a leittle bothered by the fact that Frigidaire fans are aluminum and can't help but wonder if I can ever make this go away. I noticed this scraping sound from time to time ever since I've had this dryer. Or maybe if I can find someone strong enough to tighten the setscrew for the blower onto the motor shaft... I'm just about ready to pull the set and swap in the '53 Westinghouse set but that would be far too easy. I believe one can get to the fan assembly on this style of dryer by simply unbolting the motor from the bottom of the dryer and slipping it out. I will be reading my doctrine and debating what to do when I next get down to Ogden...

At least the turquoise Frigidaires are together again...

 

[combo52]

Blower Fan In A 59 FD Dryer

Were a crappy multi piece aluminum design and often failed, if you can find a later replacement they switched to a more durable steel fan.

John L.

 

[turquoisedude]

Breaking news from Ogden....

I  high-tailed it down here last night with the intention of messing with the 59 Frigidaire dryer (again) today.  

The news is good - the blower fan is not broken as I had feared! 

The question now is 'why the scraping'... I'll be studying my doctrine carefully on this; first thoughts are that I incorrectly installed the fan on the motor shaft or perhaps I did not reinstall the fan cover plate securely enough.  Should be solvable!!   

And I can contemplate just what the fffff...lipping heck is causing a leak in the 59 Custom Imperial washer (found a puddle when I shifted the washer to extract the dryer... oy...)

 

[turquoisedude]

The never-ending repair cycle continues...

GGGGRRR!

I got the fan secured, back into the dryer, tested...twice... so I put it all back together again.

20 minutes into a heated dry (timed) the scraping started again!

I don't get what the smeg I am doing wrong here but it has to be something.... The 59 Tech-Talk for Frigidaire dryers makes mention of ensuring 1/8 of an inch clearance between the fan and housing. Not sure exactly how one is supposed to measure that as the fan housing is inaccessible once the motor is back in place...

Is it possible that 60 years of use have weakened the fan blades so that they will expand on heating?  Would I be risking serious damage if I just let the fan scrape??

I am sleeping on it for tonight, but I think it is time for me to walk away from this for a while.   I will also see if I feel capable of schlepping the 56 Whirlpool out of deep storage and back into the basement tomorrow.  

The fun NEVER ends....LOL 

 

[sfh074]

How about ...

take some black paint and a small brush and paint on the outer edges of the fan blades .... where you suspect it is scraping. Fire it back up until it starts scraping again. Take apart and see which blade or blades is involved. File the blade down where paint is missing to add clearance.

Sounds like the clearance on a blade is so close to the housing that when it heats up it expands just enough to start rubbing.

 

[stricklybojack]

.
Something is bent or out of square, or out of round somewhere. The metal is the same size as when the machine was new, expands the same.
The video sounds like marbles in a coffee can. Belts, bearings, rollers, idler, etc ok?[this post was last edited: 7/19/2019-19:20]

 

[eronie]

Motor mounting slots in baseplate for adjustment?

 

[combo52]

Blower Fan In A 59 FD Dryers

These all aluminum multi piece fans were crap, you can do as Bud suggested and maybe shave off a little of the offending fins but you will likely get it out of balance and it will fail sooner and completely.

 

We used to see these fans disintegrate and loose two of the fins at a time, check it very carefully for small cracks and signs of the fins starting to separate from the hub.

 

The best thing to do if you actually want to use this dryer much is to take the larger blower and blower housing from a mid 60s vented FD dryer, they went to a steel blower and the larger blower and housing will do a lot to improve the poor airflow through the heater box that 50s FD vented dryers suffered from.

 

John L.

 

[turquoisedude]

One last try....

And it paid off!

I took the blower and motor assembly out of the dryer for, oh, I don't know, the 5th time, on Saturday. It was screamingly obvious that the fan had slipped. Again. While I was getting a sweaty workout hauling the 56 Whirlpool dryer into the garage for inspection, a thought suddenly occured to me: What if the setscrew for the blower isn't biting, heating up, loosening itself as it turns... Well it made a hell of a lot of sense to me at the time, so I jumped in the car and drove into Stanstead to get to the local hardware store before it closed. I had to come back to put on some pants, but that's a whole other story.

So, some blue Loc-Tite was added to the set screw. I let it set for the full 24 hours as directed and....

 

[turquoisedude]

That wee clip was shot on Sunday afternoon, at the end of the second 45-minute heated dry cycle. The basement was like a dry sauna, but I didn't care one whit.
The dryer is now running more quietly than ever. As an added bonus, the water leak I had observed on the turquoise 59 Frigidaire washer was due to a bad washer on the inlet hose. I think I'm done with repairs on this pair for a while. Well, maybe I'll use the GE's for a bit... LOL

But I'm not done with dryers quite yet - I made a rather scary discovery about my 56 Whirlpool dryer which I'll be starting a thread about shortly...