Spin Speed Measured by Stroboscope!

[Unimatic1140]

On the Monday after the wedding Jeff came over and we measured a few of the washers spin rpm with his Stroboscope. You stick an aluminum strip to the side of the tub that the scope picks ups.

The pictures are loaded from best to worst spin speeds...

 

[appnut]

The 1947 GE and the 1958 Unimatic need to be pulled over for speeding at least 20 rpms faster than the speed limit. 

 

[DADoES]

 
Bunch of interesting numbers.

 

[a440]

Very cool!
Some of the numbers were much higher than I thought they would be.
Poor Whirlpool Combo.
I wonder what the spin speed is on your Duomatic Combo?
B

 

[tolivac]

Nice little strobe speed meter-where do you get those?Could be interesting to have.At best -at both VOA worksites,DC plant and Greenville transmitter plants they had Strobotaks.You used the meter by shining its strobe on the item measured and turned a dial on the Strobotak until the item appeared to be standing still-then you read the speed from the dial.No tape or anything needed-if the item was completely smooth and no marks-you would use a dark peice or tape or magic marker.Another speed tester had a shaft you held against the item measured.Used it for tape deck capstans.For other things-like the washers-would be dangerous.Don't want to hold the speedmeters device against a large spinning object like the washer drum!That Monarch meter looks handy and safe.

 

[pulsator-power]

Speed and marriage

Who got married? Photos?

 

[beekeyknee]

Frigidaire wins of course. And who says vintage aren't green? Hands down, Frigidaire. Great test of real life situations.

 

[mayken4now]

Stroboscope would

freak out on my Spin Dryer, and so would everyone else. It spins at a mere 3217 rpm. Love it! Cannot belive I have ever done laundry without it.

 

[revvinkevin]

GREAT information!

 

 

How VERY cool and interesting!  I've often wondered how fast some machines spin.

 

Thanks so much for posting this Robert!  

 

Kevin

 

[washman]

Glad to see SQ was there

carrying the freight big time!

These "old technology" machines have a thing or two or three on the so-called modern machines that really make a big deal about getting to 1000 RPM on spin.

 

[hippiedoll]

that was really cool....

seeing the actual numbers of how fast each different machine spins.
GREAT thread!!!
thank you for sharing this information.

and CONGRATULATIONS
to the newlywed couple!!!

best wishes to you both...

lovingly,
hippiedoll/christina

)

 

[tomturbomatic]

We used Jeff's first scope to determine that my Maytags with the 50 cycle pulley kit spin at 757 RPM. It was so neat, when we had the perfect reading, the whole inside of the washer looked like it was standing still, sorta like the freeze-frame motion when dancing under strobe lights. With that one, you had to have some idea of the speed and then fine tune it until what you were looking at stopped moving.

 

[pulsator-power]

Who got married?

Want to know who got married,
(and how was the honeymoon?)
Couldn't be much of one cause you guys were measuring spin speed

 

[frigilux]

How cool is that?! Just one question: Why is the '57 Frigidaire so much slower than its older brand mates? It's a Unimatic, isn't it?

Edit: My bad; the '57 is a Pulsamatic.

Not at all surprised at the pokey speed posted by the Kenmore. No wonder they were paired with such powerful dryers.

 

[revvinkevin]

Spin speed alone does not equal great extraction.

 

Yes the poor Whirlpool combo spins at "only" 205 RPM, but you have to factor in the drum is a very large 29" in diameter!    Because of this large drum it most likely extracts better than you'd think.

 

Also, Steven's little spin dryer in reply #7 above may spin at an extremely fast 3200 rpm, but the spinner can is only what, 6 or 7 inches in diameter?    Because of the small diameter it must spin this fast to achieve great extraction.

 

Unfortunately I don't know how to do the math to figure all this out.    Perhaps someone out there (Phil - Kb0nes?) can chime in to shine some light on this?

 

Kevin

 

**Jerry, AW's webmaster got married last weekend.

 

 

 

[swestoyz]

Very cool guys!  I've looked into buying one of these.  Certainly would be fun for a wash-in!  Thanks for sharing Robert!

 

Ben

 

[beekeyknee]

And Launderess has warned us all about these excessive spin speeds and how they can damage fibers, as in these high speed foreign jobs.

 

[frigilux]

Yeah, I think the formula for extraction power looks something like this, doesn't it Kevin?

 



 

 

 

[combo52]

Cool Spin Speed Tests

Robert does your 52 SQ have the faster commercial spin pulley on it or was it built that way?, later ST SQs certainly do not spin that fast and in fact when we install the commercial spin pulley they only spin at about 750 RPMs.