T-35 Tune Up
Jason,
The toaster I sent you was a daily runner from a friend's house. I had given it to him awhile ago. He married and his new partner didn't want the old toaster, so it came back to the National Trust for old Toasters.
I didn't realize the cord needing replacement until I was wrapping it to send and who knew when I'd ever get it together to send again. Knowing you're a guy and an appliance nut I figured you'd be good to replaced the plug end.
I would just pick up a 2 prong plug end with no ground and tap it on the end of the existing cord. If you need me to, I can send you a plug replacement.
The Self lowering toaster is a life time machine.
They can develope two issues over time with repeated use.
I. Toaster will not start.
Look at the slots. One says, One Slice Only. If you look into the slot you will see a z shaped wire. The bread lands on the wire which touches a contact in turn setting the toaster into it's cycle.
If you are toastering two slices and they are heavy or cut too wide for the opening (be good boys), it can push the trigger too far past the starter.
Learn the pattern of dropping the bread slices on trigger slot first and then drop the second slice.
Over time the spring which raises the toast carriage will begin to loose it's bounce. If the wire is not rising up to the top of it's run, it will not activate the starter.
Turn the toaster on it's side. Open the crumb tray door. In the center of the toaster's bottom, is a small slotted screw. This is the adjustment for the carriage tension spring. Turn the screw 1 turn COUNTERCLOCKWISE. This should be sufficient to cause the toaster to activate.
The sring adjustment is what causes 99% of T model Sunbeams to be discarded.
2. Toaster stops too early or burns toast.
The toast darkness is determined by radiant heat and light reflection. The range of doneness is continuously adjustable over a broad range of preferences.
If the toaster has a dial to adjust darkness to lightner, simply pull the knob off and put it back on in a different position closer to the desired end. (darker or lighter). It has a hex fitting and can be moved several positions closer to darker or lighter and it will give you a whole new range of settings.
If the toaster has a slide, the adjustment is a tiny screw accessible through a square opening in the handle opposite the corded side. Turn the screw in for less toasting and out for a longer toast cycle.
Sadly, toasters made after the mid ninties are nearly impossible to keep in adjustment because of the lightness of materials used in production. They are discernable by the black background and red graphics of the toast slide control.
Kelly