Kenmore 1956 Cycla-Fabric washer timer

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kenmore70

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During this past summer I restored my Kenmore 1956 Cycla Fabric washer and was having issues with the timer.
This machine has an end of cycle bell which rings every 10 seconds during the last minute of the final spin via the intermittent cam according to the Sears service literature. However, it is ringing every 10 seconds for the whole cycle except during agitation. Since it's only supposed to ring via the intermittent cam, I find it odd that it would ring during the first fill when the timer motor isn't even running to turn the intermittent cam. I took the timer apart to see if I could see anything unusual and I don't see anything. All the contacts looks clean and are not worn or bent or burnt, and the cams look to be ok. I also might mention that this model has a kickout switch which also rings the bell, and there is a wire from the kickout switch to the bell. I am trying to see if the bell is somehow receiving power all the time , and maybe that's why it's ringing, but not sure at this point. This timer also has a cam just for the bell, it's CAM8, unlike what's showing in my wiring diagram.

Anybody have any ideas why the bell would constantly ring?

Here are some pics of the cam & contacts. This was the first time I took apart a timer, so it was interesting to see how the intermittent cam is set up. It's the little white wheel at the bottom left and as it turns there is a nub on it which pushes the red pin up to make the contacts connect for the spray rinse.

I do have a question, it looks like the cams had a little grease on them and they were dirty so I cleaned them off. Should they be greased again? , if so what would I use?
 

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There were two different types of bells on mid to late 50s Kenmore washing machines, one just had a little solenoid that caused the plunger to ding when it was activated and it made a second slightly quieter ding when the power was turned off this one was often activated by the intermittent spray rinse cam.

The other kind had a little solenoid in it and a bimetal, and it would ding dong without being connected to an intermittent cam, although it could also be connected to an intermittent cam, and then it would ding each time it was activated.

So if you have the ladder type, it could be activated all the time with power it would ding dong. The earlier type would de the intermittent cam to make it work. I don’t know. Hope this makes some sense.

You probably should put a small amount of plastic safe grease on the cams just so they don’t wear as much, it doesn’t take much.

John L
 
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