NEW ROLLERMATIC TO PLAY WITH- and assorted questions on rollermatics for you all!

[rollermatic]

i recently drove to new york state to pick up this rollermatic i bought from an ad i saw on this site. this is the 8th one i have gotten in the last 15 years and they are my all time favorite washer! i sold one to "dishwasher crazy" along with a matching dryer in coppertone awhile back and had to part one out due to extreme rust but i am in the process of getting the remaining 6 in working order at this time. 3 are done, the other 3 in various state of rebuild.

first, before my questions here's some pics of this latest one. it is different from all the others i have had in that it has a infinite water level feature which was very surprising to me. i didn't know the solid tub rollermatics ever had this feature. my other machines are timed fill and my 65 custom imperial has a 2 speed timer that results in a quicker/ lower fill when wanted.

this one has a exterior fill chamber mounted on the bottom of the outer tub. it is connected to the drain port of the outer tub and feeds into a revised pump that only pumps during the spin phase. i assume this washer does not have overflow rinses as the pump will not expel water during the washing phase. this was also very surprising as all my other machines use a pump that will expel water whenever any drains into it from the outer tub. i assume that whenever the washer fills a small amount of water is directed into this exterior chamber to fill it up as well. i had a solid tub speed queen that used the same system to provide an infinite water level setting on a solid tub machine. when the washer spins the water out of the inner tub into the outer tub it drains thru this exterior chamber into the pump and all water expelled completely.

this one is a WCDL model and has a date posted on the bwiring schematic of 3-66

 

[rollermatic]

the exterior water fill chamber

is shown here. it has the usual small tube that connects to the infinite water level pressure switch on the control panel

 

[rollermatic]

here's the pump

it's connected directly to the end of the motor shaft.

the motor on this machine would not turn and i suspected a jammed pump. sure enough it was! i removed both agitate and spin rollers but it still would not rotate. i decided to remove the pump which was no easy job! uit took a lot of pb blaster and cuss words to get it off!

i had to rig a puller to get the pump impeller out. behind it was what looked like a sock! sure enough after that the motor turned freely!

 

[rollermatic]

if i decide not to try and reinstall this old pump

i will simply make this one a gravity drain machine.

 

[rollermatic]

another issue with this one

is the agitate driver that turns the agitate roller has a crack in it. never seen that before!

that is a part i do not have. but i have been compressing it with vice grips, sanding iut down with a dremel and file, and it is much less severe than it was.

when i put the rollers back on and turned it on it will agitate, although not perfectly. i'm not done with it yet.

it spins great however and motor and tub bearings sound very quiet. i lucked out on that!

i also have an extra complete motor and transmission assembly from the machine i parted out that's in good shape. it's a rapid dry model too, i might use that and turn this one into a rapidry with a few modifications.

 

[rollermatic]

i will update this thread with more pics

later this week.

MY QUESTIONS for anyone here who wants to comment or even guess!

does anyone have any rollermatic parts they would want to sell? i can use a tub spacer, a snubber, an agitate driver of course, and the top stud that mounts onto the agitate shaft. and pump seals of course i can always use.

am i right in assuming that this infinite fill trickles a little water into the outer tub when it fills the inner tub therefore filling up that exterior container and actiavting the pressure switch on the control panel. i don't see any other way a solid tub machine can incorporate an infinite fill.

sincee those top agitator nuts are notoriously hard to get off i am thinking of using a combination of heat and an impact wrench. i have a propane torch with a narrow flame and i can wrap a layer of metal around the inner bore of the agitator as a heat shield. the nut on this machine actually came off without any fuss but the other two i am working on are being stubborn. i have an air compressor already and can pick up an impact wrench at work. i'm hoping that will do the trick.

 

[rollermatic]

and lastly for now

if you see this thread COMBO52, i was wondering if you still had any 1-18 parts, in particular a transmission. i saw in a previous thread that you remarked that you did have one.

i would be very interested in buying it as well as pump seals foir the 1-18 model, and bearings also.

of course any rollermatic parts i would also be very interested in buying as i have decided to make this year my "get all the machines running" project. takes my mind of all the shit going on in the world!

i did send you an email recently but not sure if got to you. appreciate your reply!

thx to all for reading this thread and i will update the progress.

thats what i love about this site, the info shared and especially the pictures we post when working on our machines! can never have enough pics!!!

 

[appnut]

Wow Peter!!! Bob

 

[combo52]

1966 Roller mattic Solid tub, Frigidaire

Hi Peter, did not see the email from you. I do have one to 18 parts. I also have boxes of Frigidaire parts For solid tub machines, you should come and help me sort through them. I really don’t have much use for most of them.

The easiest way to get in touch with me is to send messages with the message system on this site, I think I sent you my cell phone number as well.

I’m familiar with those machines that had the chamber below the outer tub to measure the water level Frigidaire time fill machines had trouble with some customers were they had very low water pressure and they needed to have a machine like this in their lineup for those customers. Time fill machines usually worked very well if you had good steady water pressure from a municipal system.

I never saw the driver for the agitate roller crack like that before, but I guess it’s possible. Otherwise that’s a pretty neat machine.

I have two rollermattic solid tub machines. Both are rapid dry models.

John

 

[rollermatic]

Thanks john,

I would love to drive over sometime this fall or early winter to see what you have! I think you are in Maryland, right?

I could very easily do that as I am now on my social security and only work part time. I love road trips!

I think I can actually smooth down this agitate driver to the point where it functions properly. I'm pretty good with a dremel.

Do you have any comments on using an impact wrench after applying heat to those tub nuts?

I will go thru my old posts here to find your phone no. Given to me. My email is simply [email protected]

Always appreciate your replies and the extensive knowledge that you share with folks here! It has helped me many times!

I just started to rekindle my appliance repair and collecting the last couple years. Again my goal is to get all my rollermatics running again.
My 1-18 is running fine I will say after I got that frozen bearing loosened up and lubricated. It's noisy but it works! Would still like to buy that transmission from you.

To contact you here on the site do I just post a thread like I've seen others do saying "paging so and so"?

I will contact you about coming over. Thx!

 

[rollermatic]

Hey appnut!

Nice to see you here. I took some years off to do a few things like get married, help nurse my spouse doug thru cardiac arrest (he's one of the 8 % that survive!) and help him deal with his mother's worsening dementia. And let's see, had a tree fall on the house 2 years ago in a tornado, lost both our dogs to cancer last year and rescued 2 new ones. And next year I'll be 70!

Never a dull moment!

I always look forward to your comments as you have such a great wealth of knowledge and experience with so many different dishwashers and washers! You're one of the cornerstones of this site in my book, along with
Some others here! Hope all is well with you!

Hey, is dishwasher crazy still on the site, he's another cornerstone that always c has such interesting posts?

I decided to get back into my appliance hobby as a stress relief! Besides the rollermatics I'm working on 3 g.e. mobile maids that I love so much! Actually found some pump seals recently on the web! Life is good and every day we wake up and don't see a mushroom cloud is a good day!

 

[peteski50]

Frigidaire!

Pete that is really a cool washer. It's good to see you back again. I hope you get it running soon.
Best Wishes
Peter

 

[qsd-dan]

Great work, Peter. I was not aware that solid tubs had a water pressure sensor, interesting to see.

 

[grnappliance]

Pressure Switches on Solid Tubs

Hello Peter. First of all, this is a pretty cool find and I hope you have fun using the machine. The design of the pressure switch system is amazing on washers like this, and I can relate since I own a Champion solid tub with a very similar setup.

The thing that sets your washer apart from others is the presence of a water level selector, let alone an infinite one. I'm definitely curious to know how they got that feature adapted into the machine. On other solid tubs, water usually needs to overflow the inner tub before the pressure switch can start the washer, and hence, no water level selector. I suppose this can be bypassed by manually directing water into the outer tub.

The water chamber on my Champion is attached to the drain port for the outer tub and directly connects to an electric pump, plus the pressure tube up top. The programming allows the electric pump to run during rinse agitation, meaning that the machine is capable of an overflow rinse. I'm surprised that Frigidaire revised the pump on this rollermatic to only run during the spin phase. Perhaps they were saving water?

All in all, the solid tub pressure switch is a mechanism that I can really appreciate. It solves the problems that occurred with timed fills, which depended on water pressure to fill accurately. All the best with your rollermatic!

 

[combo52]

Infinite water level control on a solid tub washer

Both Frigidaire and Speed Queen used the system to give the user of water level control and a positive Phil level in the main tub.

They did this by dividing the inlet water, flow and sending about 5% of the water directly into the outer tub which accumulated in a chamber Where they could measure the amount of water in the chamber with a small airline going up to the pressure switch just like perforated basket washer used.

It seemed to work pretty well as long as the ratio of water going into the tub versus the collection chamber remains Consistent, the only real disadvantage is you waste a small amount of water that will never be used to wash clothing, but the solid tub Still ends up saving more water.

John

 

[brisnat81]

The Simpson fluid drives did this, at least early on, allowed for fully variable water levels by filling into the outer tub, heating the water if necessary and then pumping the water back into the tub through two three way valves. They then used a weight switch to start agitation once the bowl was full.

 

[hoover28]

glad it got a new home with you.

I am so happy you got it working. good job

Chris

 

[rollermatic]

thanks for the comments

to pete, dan, grn (love the pics too!), hoover, combo, bris,

always love reading your feedback and comments.

DUMB QUESTION HERE!!!!!

can't believe i don't know this but i'm always learning.

on a 2 speed washer motor like my rollermatics use i understand how the starting winding works but for high speed are both running windings engaged together to give the increase of speed or just one of them.

for low speed is it the 4 pole or 6 pole winding that is energised?

and when the starting switch is the start mode energising the starting winding are both run windings used to give it extra kick to start or just one of them. and if so, which one, low or high speed.

i'm trying to figure out the wiring on one of my rollermatics. it has a wa2-l body but the control top i think is from the one i parted out because the wiring doesn't match completely. it looks like the top is of a wcdal machine.

i did download the tech talk for the 67 line which includes both wa2-l and also covers this new wcdl i just got.

thanks for feedback coming!

 

[rollermatic]

Here are pics

Of the control panel of the top I am working with today.

Not sure which model this is.

Anyone know please?